Government hosts digital hackathon for improving citizen-authorities relations

Newsroom 10/10/2016 | 09:35

Over 100 IT specialists gathered this weekend in Bucharest to take part in a hackathon designed to improve the relation between the public authorities and the citizens.

Some 12 prototypes of software apps and solutions were designed by 20 specialists that are granted scholarships by the government. These GovITHub fellows were assisted by other volunteers.

The GovITHub fellows will be paid EUR 2,000 monthly for 6 months to develop innovative software solutions for the government.

Among the fellows working for GovITHub there is Claudiu Ceia, a software engineer who worked for 4 years at the social media behemoth Facebook. His team developed an app that will allow authorities to inform tax payers through SMS or e-mail when they register delay in paying their taxes or when their ID papers expire.

Another app targeting the medical field will allow Romanians to signal any dysfunctions when going to the doctor or when they are treated in hospital.

GovITHub is a government initiative developed together with the private sector and the start-up entrepreneurs.

The ministry of Internal Affairs, Dragos Tudorache, and the minister of EU funds, Cristian Ghinea, paid a visit to the software developers that were working on these projects this weekend. PM Dacian Ciolos wrote his Facebook page that something “amazing was happening”, referring to this hackathon.