Registration is under way for an annual competition challenging participants to use public data to address business problems in Colorado.

The Go Code Colorado Business Solutions Challenge  Day is scheduled for March 6, with a final competition and data summit set for May 27. 

To register or obtain more information, visit www.gocode.colorado.gov.

The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office conducts the Go Code Colorado competition, now in its eighth year. Hundreds of analysts, business and marketing professionals, entrepreneurs, developers, designers and others have participated.

The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office publishes business-relevant data in an easy to use format on the Colorado Information Marketplace at data.colorado.gov. To date, the Business Intelligence Center at the office has published more than 300 data assets.

Teams compete in the Business Solutions Challenge to integrate public data into market-relevant and comprehensive applications as well as analytics that provide useful tools and insights for business decision-makers in Colorado. The competition offers two tracks — one for products and one for analytics.

This latest Go Code Colorado challenge follows a Business Opportunities Challenge conducted last fall that challenged teams to identify business opportunities, problems and issues that could be helped through the use of public data. Sixteen teams from across Colorado competed. 

A panel of industry judges reviewed each submission, and the top 10 ideas received $1,000 each. The winning teams pitched their business opportunities for use in such fields as education, water management and work force relocation.

The winners were Courtney Capper, Mladen Gajic (with three submissions), Pietro Giacomin, Steve Malers (with two submissions), Janina Pohorecki and Ed Vigil. Phillip Perrin, team captain for Mile High Data Viz, was also a winner. 

 Matt Melnicoff, innovation strategy manager for PepsiCo, was among the judges. “I was blown away by the thoughtfulness and hard work of all the entrants,” he said.

James Capps, city director of the Denver House of Genius, has served as a mentor for Go Code Colorado since 2014. “Go Code Colorado uniquely brings together civil engagement and entrepreneurial innovation,” Capps said.  “Year after year I am amazed by the creative energy the program cultivates through its unique and well-organized platform.”