Previously, Go-Jek had hosted a similar event in the ride hailing giant’s India branch

Indonesian ride-hailing giant Go-Jek yesterday announced a new hackathon programme for open source tech solutions, Go-Hackathon.

The competition looks for participants who are Indonesian citizens, with no age or background limitation, to build solutions for “everyday problems” in form of apps, tools, API, or library under three main categories: mobility, data engineering, and infrastructure. Under a team of maximum three members, the participants are also allowed combined all different categories together.

Set to be an annual programme, Go-Jek stated that what makes this competition stands out from the rest is that instead of looking for solutions to fix internal issues within the company, Go-Hackathon looks for solutions that can be universally applied to solve problems in the tech ecosystem.

“Through this competition, we believe that there will be new technology creations made by the best minds in Indonesia that may support, or even accelerate the nation’s development,” said Monica Oudang, HR Director of Go-Jek Indonesia.

Also Read: Did Go-Jek just shut down its Jogjakarta office?

The participants will have the chance to win prizes such as IDR120 million (US$8,900) cash prize, a Macbook Pro, and a Google Pixel for each member of the team.

If the product that the participating teams crated are deemed “suitable”, Go-Jek also opened up the possibility for the team members to be hired into the company.

Held for the first time in the startup’s home market of Indonesia, Oudang said that the startup has held a similar competition in its India branch about “two or three weeks ago.” The competition resulted in 90 participants joining in, with the youngest being 11-year-old.

To join the competition, participants need to apply by submitting their ideas and conducting a coding test by March 10, 2017. The competition will announce the names of 30-35 finalists on March 17, while the hackathon itself will be held at Go-Jek’s new office on March 25-26.

Also Read: Indonesian consumers can now book a Blue Bird taxi via Go-Jek application

The grand jury team will consist of Go-Jek CEO Nadiem Makarim, CTO Sheran Gunasekera, Chief of Information Security Officer Ajey Gore, and the company’s Tech Lead team. The winners will be judged based on originality, usefulness and impact, and completeness.

Startups in Indonesia begin to launch several initiatives to scout for top tech talents in the market. Last year, online marketplace Bukalapak launched a scholarship programme while Go-Jek’s competitor Grab, on the same day as Go-Hackathon’s announcement, launched a US$700 million worth of “master plan” which includes the setting up of an R&D centre in Jakarta.

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