01 Mar VIA’s GoCodeSA Codeathon Recap
VIA kicked off its 2nd Codeathon, GoCodeSA, at Trinity University’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship last Friday with gusto. 20 teams competed against each other to utilize VIA’s transit data to create innovative and impactful products/services that could greatly improve mobility in San Antonio.
Throughout the weekend, CivTechSA, Geekdom, the Office of Innovation, and other partners in the San Antonio “Techosystem”
Pixel and VIAFY winners with Jason Straughn, CEO of Grok Interactive (Image Source)
participated as attendees, speakers, mentors, and judges to support participants as they created awesome transportation solutions for our community. Winning Teams were announced on Sunday:
- 1st Place: RocketTiers
- 2nd Place: Multipotentialities
- 3rd Place: Pixel
- 4th Place: VIAFY
Key organizer Steve Young, VP of Information Technology, at VIA said:
“The 2nd annual VIA goCodeSA Codeathon turned out be more successful than we had even hoped, as we had a fantastic turnout of community support by sponsors and individuals in the San Antonio tech community. It started with our gracious host, Trinity University, but it certainly did not stop there. We saw a 50% increase in attendance, with our final coder attendance at 75 super talented individuals. What really was amazing, was the high quality of ideas and projects that the top 8 teams brought to the finals. There were not just 1 or 2 quality projects, but many. It was truly inspiring to see the coders taking their innovative ideas and turning them into a potential offering for VIA customer in just a couple of days.”
One GoCodeSA judge, Jose De La Cruz, San Antonio’s Chief Innovation Officer, had high praise for the event:
“The entrepreneurial and tech talent we have in San Antonio is amazing. I was blown away by some of the solutions pitched and the teams that pitched them. Tapping into this well of talent and ideas is like putting boosters on VIA’s plans for the future. I’m excited to utilize this resource for the City’s SmartSA and CivTechSA initiatives and appreciate the hard work that Steve and his team implemented for setting up GoCodeSA so that we can all benefit from this platform in the future.”
We are proud to support VIA’s efforts to create innovative transportation services to San Antonio residents, and can’t wait to see what upcoming events will bring. Great work everyone!!