1/11/2017
By Ivan Pereira
The city’s annual BigApps competition kicks off Thursday and this year it’s utilizing the expanding network of Wi-Fi kiosks to ensure that one of the winning apps reaches as many New Yorkers as possible.
The City’s Economic Development Corporation will team up with the nonprofit Civic Hall Labs and launch workshops until the April 30 deadline that provide training and help from experts.
In addition to cash prizes and marketing assistance, one winner’s app will also be installed on the kiosks.
EDC President Maria Torres-Springer said the competition, which began in 2009, has helped create apps that directly benefit New Yorkers such as HeatSeek, to facilitate tenants monitoring heat in their apartments.
This year’s competition asks participants, who can enter regardless of their development experience, to come up with a program that can improve three areas affecting the city’s immigrant, teen and elderly populations: transportation, knowledge of city services, and community resiliency.
Civic Hall Labs’ civic accelerator program will work with the winners on branding, prototyping and fundraising for their projects. The four winners will be selected by a panel of judges including representatives of the tech industry and the community at large.
More information on the application and workshops is available at bigapps.nyc.
