USC/UCLA Rivalry Takes on New Meaning as Los Angeles Gets First cleanweb hackathon Focused on Green Resources and Technologies

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - Nov 15, 2012) - As USC and UCLA prepare to do battle at the Rose Bowl this weekend, a different sort of friendly competition will take place when over a dozen teams of hackers descend on the USC campus from Nov. 16-18 to work with diverse data sets ranging from the federal Green Button Program to local utility data to develop apps that can be turned into products for businesses and consumers alike in the first-ever cleanweb hackathon in Los Angeles.

"While the football game is going on, we're going to have over a hundred team members furiously working on their own plays in tackling the abundant environmental data they will have access to this weekend," said Carrie Norton, founder of Green Business BASE CAMP, and host of the competition. "And long after the last play finishes at the Rose Bowl, these teams from USC, UCLA and CalTech will be pounding keyboards, clicking mouses and downing coffee long into the night coming up with some great apps and solutions."

The cleanweb hackathon is a gathering to demonstrate the impact of applying information technology to resource constraints by bringing together developers, designers and business professionals dedicated to optimizing resource use and accelerating cleantech development. Participants are tasked with building applications that tackle energy, waste, water, transportation and other sustainability issues by leveraging web and mobile technologies. Attendees are challenged on what they can do over the course of the weekend that might just change the world for the better.

An extensive amount of data has been made available for hackers from government, utility and academic sources. Teams will start hacking by 6:00 PM, Friday, Nov. 16^th with judging commencing by 4:00 PM on Sunday, Nov. 18^th. A full list of the available datasets can be found at: http://lax.cleanweb.co/datasets/

In addition to creating these new applications, close to 100 hackers, divided into hacker teams of three to five members each, will also be competing for prize money to winning teams judged by a panel of technology and environmental experts on the most innovative product solutions. Previous hackathons have been held in San Francisco, New York and Boulder.

The Los Angeles hackathon, sponsored by CALinnovates, HRCloud, Southern California Gas Company/Sempra, Southern California Edison, Surge, factual, StartUp Digest and The Lee Strategy Group, Inc. will be held on the USC campus at the:

Tutor Campus Center Forum
3607 Trousedale Pkwy
Los Angeles, CA 90089

Organizers include Cleanweb Worldwide, Green Business BASE CAMP, ACM, USC and New Economy Campaigns.

Media interested in attending or hacker teams interested in participating must register at: http://lax.cleanweb.co/