Coding for Good: Last Call to Join the FirstNet Hackathon to Help America's First Responders Save Lives

The more connected you are, the more aware you can be. And when it comes to public safety, that awareness can be lifesaving. 

That's why FirstNet launched the FirstNet Applications Ecosystem last October. The goal? Create public-safety-focused applications that have the power to change the way first responders coordinate, communicate and respond when duty calls.

And this weekend, developers have the chance to innovate alongside first responders at our inaugural FirstNet hackathon in San Francisco. Participants will have 24 hours to form their teams and tackle problems that first responders face. The marathon coding session will result in creative and intuitive solutions built on common and open standards. 

Ideas and outcomes will span each public safety discipline with prizes for the teams that create the top apps for fire, EMS and law enforcement. And the team that creates the overall best app will receive a $10,000 grand prize. 

Not just ideas and prototypes

The hackathon will produce many prototypes that have the potential to help first responders save lives. But the long-term goal is to inspire our teams to continue to develop for public safety, whether through their prototypes or other ideas, and to submit fully developed apps for inclusion in the FirstNet App Catalog. Those apps can then be rated by FirstNet as either Certified or Reviewed depending on their performance.  

Haas Alert is one example of a recently Reviewed application.  Haas Alert uses R2VTM (Responder-to-Vehicle) technology to deliver real-time alerts to motorists near approaching emergency vehicles. This boosts their awareness, so they can pull over safely to let crews pass. And with a FirstNet Reviewed status, FirstNet users know it's still an app they can trust.  

Unmatched resources

We're not just giving participants a platform to create a winning, purposeful solution. To help them before the clock runs out, we'll have tech coaches, first responders and developer tools - from code samples to APIs to loaner hardware - all onsite. The FirstNet Developer Portal is another resource that teams can tap into to help build and test their creations. 

So, have an interest in connecting public safety to the purposeful solutions they need? Join us Friday at the FirstNet hackathon. You can join the over 400 do-gooders who've already committed by signing up here.