Innovative projects announced for the Co-op Hackathon

Following a call out to the co-operative sector for digital ideas, Co-operatives UK can now announce the exciting projects that will be developed at the Co-op Hackathon in London on 19‑20 October.

The FREE event is taking place to boost collaborative tech within the co‑op movement – and to bring co-operators together to develop digital ideas that benefit co-ops and society in general.

A wide range of innovative ideas will be worked up at the event, including developing open source AI and using tech to tackle the climate crisis, help alleviate poverty and support alternative solutions for housing and education.

Ludovica Rogers, Co-operatives UK’s Head of Co‑operative Development, said:

“We’ve had an amazing response to our call out for projects for the Co-op Hackathon and we can’t wait to get together with lots of talented, passionate people to collaborate on some exciting ideas and products.

“It’s great to see such a large and diverse range of innovative, exciting ideas that will start to take shape thanks to the collaborative efforts of everyone who attends the hackathon.”

Projects at the Co-op Hackathon

The ideas that will be developed at the Co‑op Hackathon are: 

• Oracle Owl – a self‑hosted, open‑source speaking AI system that allows anyone to talk to the AI owl agent in real time
• Community Energy Connect – a volunteering platform connecting skilled individuals to community energy groups, offering tangible action to take on the climate and energy crises
• Kandoroo – improving the user experience of the Kandoroo platform, which works to empower people in poverty to shop with dignity and respect
• Air Register – developing an open‑source version of the Air Register app, which is used by community benefit societies to manage their community shares registers
• Signalise – building to improve communication and speed up this platform, which connects deaf people, interpreters and health care providers to deliver sign language interpreting
• Roost – a platform for helping groups find, buy and manage co‑op homes, now wanting to develop apps designed for living together
• LCR Civic Data Co‑operative – developing a crowd‑sourced, citizen‑governed system for the management of citizen‑generated data in the Liverpool city region
• Repowering London – developing tech that provides an efficient way for community energy groups to manage solar generation data and generate invoices
• Cclite2 – developing a second version of Cclite, a mutual social credit (LETS), non‑blockchain community currency software – and modernising the software for web and phone
• Collaborative funding tools – the co-design of collaborative funding platforms and infrastructure for the solidarity economy
• Worldschooling: Lifelong Education – a digital platform to connect families that are interested in choosing alternative education methods due to failing traditional systems
• Accessible community infill development – using technology to enable communities to suggest how local land should be developed, reversing the traditional top down approach
• Space Tube – a co‑op‑to‑co‑op chat tool enabling co‑operatives to talk to each other on their internal chat platforms without leaving their own systems
• AI for co-op collaboration – developing the use of AI to help co‑operatives work better together – and enhancing collaboration among NewsSocial Circles’ co‑operatives
• We-The-Union. Saving and Credit Cooperative Organisations on the Blockchain – developing to expand products, member benefits and borderless co‑operation via decentralisation
• Glyme Valley Bioregion Community Alliance – using tech to provide place‑based solutions to the climate emergency
• Online tools for solar projects – enabling volunteers to successfully achieve more solar projects, and making online tools better, more integrated, open-source and more flexible
• Federated Platform Co-op of Art Schools – a multi-stakeholder platform co‑operative federation of alternative art schools for pooling resources and facilitating collaboration
• Journey.coop – a community platform for sharing the life events that led people to join co‑ops. People can share their multimedia stories for other users to view and engage with

There’s still chance to get involved

Passionate, skilled people still required

The event still needs people with digital or creative skills and a passion for collaborative tech to be part of the teams developing the ideas. Book onto the Co-op Hackathon.

Attend the presentations

There are two opportunities to join the Hackathon, without taking part in the hack day:

• Prior to the hack day, there’ll be a meet and greet on the evening of Thursday 19 October (6‑8pm), where a selection of the ideas will be presented
• On the evening of Friday 20 October (6‑8pm), there’ll be another presentation with an update on how they’ve developed

Register to attend the presentations here.

The Co-op Hackathon takes place on 19 and 20 October at The Foundry, London, SE11 5RR.

It is being delivered by Co-operatives UK in partnership with The Co-operative Bank – supporting fair and ethical business together.