Datacomp spreads across the Tasman

Now in its ninth year, 270 Datacom employees have signed up to participate in the three-day hackathon-style event.

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Datacomp participants collaborate with a purpose.

Datacom’s innovation competition Datacomp will see competitors spend a combined 10,000 hours attempting to solve complex challenges set by organisations in Australia and New Zealand.

Now in its ninth year, 270 Datacom employees have signed up to participate in the three-day hackathon-style event, which marks the first year the event has gone Trans-Tasman, running simultaneously in Auckland, Sydney, and virtually from 19 to 21 August.

The competition aims to create effective solutions to challenging problems, give Datacom’s innovators and experts the chance to step out of their day job to tackle new challenges, and connect with people across the business.

In nine years of Datacomp, over 90 prototypes have been created alongside more than 20 solutions resulting in either commercial engagements, new business concepts, or ongoing opportunities that Datacom and partners are actively exploring and developing.

Past solutions include the ‘BoxConnect’ import/export supply chain solution for Kotahi, and the AI-driven health and safety solution developed for Vulcan Steel, using Microsoft custom vision tools to sort footage and identify potential risks.

“If we have learned anything from the pandemic, it has been the power of coming together, and the sense of hope that creates,” says Husain Al-Badry, Associate Director for Innovation and Growth.

“At a macro level it’s not just about governments and countries working together, it needs to be about how industry and business come together to reimagine and seize opportunities in a changed world.”

Ahead of the Datacomp competition, Datacom invites its customers to submit a brief with a challenge they are looking to solve.

This year’s Datacomp teams will choose a challenge from ACCC Scamwatch, AFP ThinkUKnow, Beca, Catholic Healthcare, Datacom’s own NoW strategy team, the Australian Department of Health, Harrison Grierson, IDIC – the Indigenous Defence & Infrastructure Consortium, MBIE and Digital Boost, Te Pūkenga or the University of Auckland.