TECHNOLOGY ENGAGEMENT
William Thomson, creator of the Homeless Hackathon “I believe it is time to step up and not walk on by.”
Hackers assemble to tackle blight of homelessness
A return to Scotland for the tech events aimed at ending rough sleeping
BY NEIL EVANS S
cotland’s tech community will again be joining forces to try to solve the problem of homelessness. Te series of Homeless
Hackathons are returning to this country, with sessions being held in Edinburgh and Dundee, aiming to find a technological solution for organisations who work with homeless people. Te hackathons were the
brainchild of William Tomson, the Barcelona-based CEO of event consultants Gallus. He was spurred
into trying to tackle the problem of homelessness after reading a report in the Sunday Herald which revealed a homeless person was dying every week in Glasgow, his hometown. After the first event in Glasgow, the events are now held across the world, including Barce- lona, London and Chicago. Tomson said: “We want to help
end homelessness in Scotland, and to provide as much meaning- ful support as we can in the other countries where we host our hack- athons. In Scotland I truly believe this is achievable in the near future. “Having people live without shel-
ter is a choice that society makes. It is a hard fact to face. I believe it is time to step up and not walk on by.” Te two Scottish venues on the
calendar this year were chosen because of Tomson’s personal links
to the cities, having been to univer- sity in Dundee and lived in Edin- burgh for a year. He said: “I felt it was important to try to do something in those cities as a way of saying thanks for helping me get where I am.”
THE HACKATHONS have been sup- ported by the PCMA Foundation, the charitable arm of the world’s largest association for event professionals and Tomson said he is really happy with the support already received from the events industry. “We now have five events and I hope we can add one more before the end of the year. I know they will lead to successful outcomes. Te projects we are working on have a massive potential to really support those who are experiencing homelessness.” A hackathon is an intensive ‘sprint’-style of event, usually
involving software developers and programmers, who work together to create a functioning piece of software over the course of a single day or weekend. Te events are designed to have
100 ‘hackers’, including the tech and start-up community, as well as charities, policymakers, activities and, importantly, people who have experience of being homeless. Te aim is to include supporting organi- sations who are helping homeless people, building a community, and providing homeless people with a route out – including creating jobs. Te organisers describe a hack-
athon as a ‘doing things’ event, rather than just ‘talking about things’, with the focus on coming up with immediate solutions to problems faced by groups, organi- sations or whole communities.
➜ EVENTSBASE | SPRING 2020 | 65
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