Register your interest: The Oxford Energy Innovation Weekend - Fuel Poverty Hackathon

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO OCTOBER 2015! THE NEW DATE WILL BE DEFINED SOON! The aim of this event is to get members of the student and alumni community working together on specific, immediate problems, and to come up with working prototype(s); supporting the on-going efforts in the field. The hackathon, on fuel poverty, will gather students from across the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes to develop innovative solutions. The theme of ‘fuel poverty’ encompasses a broad range of technical, economic and societal challenges. This will be The Oxford Launchpad’s third hackathon, following the successful Ebola hackathon in November 2014. The hackathon, a fusion of the words “hack” and “marathon”, is an intensive, problem-solving event lasting typically 24 to 48 hours. Originally hackathons had coding and tech at their core (hence the name); however these days the term is used more widely, to denote the event’s nature and format, and the focus on innovation at speed. Tech continues to form an important component of many hackathons, but hackathons are no longer the realm of coders alone. They also seek to address interlinked social, economic and technical challenges. While British billionaires have doubled their wealth in recent years, 10% of the population suffer from fuel poverty. Fuel poverty is when people are unable to afford to heat their homes properly . They may have to choose between keeping warm and feeding their families. They may also suffer poor health and winter death due to cold homes. Fuel poverty is caused by a mix of low incomes (not having enough money to heat your home or afford energy efficient improvements), poor housing conditions (houses that leak heat, guzzle energy and cost more to keep warm), and high energy prices. We already identified some possible solutions, but the problems persist. We need breakthrough ideas and action to eradicate it in a way which also meets our carbon reduction targets. Crucially, the output of the hackathon is not to just generate ideas, but to create demonstrable solutions within the hackathon timeframe, so register your interest whatever your background and be part of an innovating team!