200 participants compete in marathon coding session to solve national and local data challenges
Philadelphia, PA Independence Blue Cross (Independence) will sponsor Drexel University College of Computing & Informatics’ third Philly Codefest, a two-day marathon coding competition that brings together innovative thinkers and programmers from across the nation to transform data into real-world solutions. Independence sponsored the first Philly Codefest in 2013, which focused on health IT solutions, and the second Philly Codefest in 2014, which focused on an expanded scope of real-world information challenges.
This year’s Philly Codefest will focus on developing quality hardware and software tools and other approaches to solve data challenges such as health, patient care, media and digital arts, data science and visualization, and cybersecurity, among others.
For the second consecutive year, Philly Codefest is designated as an official CodeAcross 2015 site. CodeAcross is a weekend of events hosted by the Code for America network in more than 35 international cities during the weekend of February 20-22, 2015. In addition to the priority areas listed above, competitors will be encouraged to participate in a specific CodeAcross challenge in the spirit of its 2015 theme: Principles for 21st Century Government.
More than 200 coders, including professional hardware and software developers and designers, students, health care leaders, educators, and entrepreneurs, will break into teams and compete from Saturday, February 21 at 7 a.m. to Sunday, February 22 at 1 p.m. at Drexel’s Behrakis Grand Hall located in the Creese Student Research Center , 3210 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. The teams will identify a problem within the six challenge areas listed above and analyze the data to devise a proposed solution or tool. For more information or to participate, visit Philly Codefest.
Beginning Sunday, February 22 at 2 p.m., each team will present their solutions — in the form of new approaches, algorithms, or tools for accessing and using a variety of information — to a group of judges from tech-related fields. Finalists will have a chance to win monetary prizes in award categories such as: Best Hardware Hack, Majority Student Team, Women in Technology, and Venture Capitalist’s Choice. Winners of the lead prizes will have the opportunity to discuss their innovations with leading venture capitalists and leaders of business accelerators.
About Independence Blue Cross
Independence Blue Cross is the leading health insurance organization in southeastern Pennsylvania. With our affiliates, we serve nearly 10 million people in 25 states and the District of Columbia, including 2.5 million in the region. For more than 75 years, we have been enhancing the health and wellness of the people and communities we serve by delivering innovative and competitively priced health care products and services; pioneering new ways to reward doctors, hospitals, and other health care professionals for coordinated, quality care; and supporting programs and events that promote wellness. To learn more about how we’re changing the game, visit www.ibx.com. Connect with us on Facebook at ibx.com/facebook and on Twitter at @ibx. Independence Blue Cross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
About the College of Computing & Informatics at Drexel University
The College of Computing & Informatics, founded in 2013 by Dean David E. Fenske, serves as a hub for multi-disciplinary computing and informatics activities at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pa., offering undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs and professional development programs both on campus and online. With more than 80 faculty members, the College’s research focus areas include archives and records management; bibliometrics; cybersecurity; data analytics and decision sciences; data curation, representation and visualization; design studies; human-centered computing; informatics; information organizations and resources; information retrieval; information security, ethics and policy; knowledge management; scientific computing, socio-technical and society studies; and software engineering.
Media contacts
Ruth Stoolman
Independence Blue Cross
215-241-4807 (office)
215-667-9537 (cell)
Ruth.stoolman@ibx.com
Britt Faulstick
Drexel University
215-895-2617 (office)
215-796-5161 (cell)
bef29@drexel.edu