Apps For The Planet
By / On / In Appsterdam
Save the planet in two days—with apps!
This week in Appsterdam, the first ever convening of Apps For The Planet, a two-day sustainability event where people design and build apps for the benefit of the health and future of our planet.
Three months ago at an early Appsterdam Meeten en Drinken, Casper Koomen asked the question: What if a dream team of developers, designers, conceptual thinkers, sustainability experts and charities came together for a 48-hour hackathon to save the planet?
From that conversation sprang Apps For The Planet. An amazing lineup of partners stepped up to support the idea, including Greenpeace, Pachube, 1%club, and, yes, Appsterdam. I have the very great honor of delivering the opening keynote that kicks off a fun, but intense, program packed with lectures and workshops.
And work! Apps need to be built! Experienced and newly-minted App Makers will form teams of four to design, build, and pitch their ultimate planet-saving app to a jury. The theme this time around is “The Home.” Winners take home cool prizes like Wacom tablets.
Why do we do this? We want to stimulate the creation of great planet-saving apps and build awareness about how apps can help solve sustainability issues. And, we want new startups to emerge from all of this. More than a few hackathon teams have gone on to start companies.
Bring your talent, skills, and ideas on Wednesday and Thursday, August 17th and 18th, from 9:00 to 20:00, to the headquarters of BNO, the Association of Dutch Designers, at Danzigerkade 8a, in Appsterdam.