Two Whitehall departments have issued an invitation to start-ups to join hackathon events to bring new methods to the central government.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) are collaborating on Reverse Pitch, which will take place in October.
The two departments are coming together to tackle shared problems, said MoJ director general Megan Lee: “We believe that collaboration across government to help solve the common problems we share can only lead to better outcomes for our citizens.”
The three events will be aimed at co-creating innovations to deal with the “complex challenges facing citizens and departments,” CDIO of DWP Rich Corbridge said in a post. Adding: “The event will focus on three key problems facing the two departments and will provide an opportunity for start-ups to showcase their ideas and collaborate with government teams.”
The events are backed by Andrew Western, minister for transformation at the Department of Work and Pensions, said: “We’re committed to fundamentally reforming government to guarantee high-quality public services. As part of this, we can look at what start-ups are doing to innovate further.”
Solving problems
Corbridge added: “We can use the latest technology to solve real life problems for citizens to improve the customer experience.”
Three Reverse Pitch events will take place on 29, 30 and 31 October in Leeds, London and Manchester respectively.
Following the three events, the departments will select businesses to work with the innovation studios of DWP in Leeds, London or Manchester for at least three-months. During that period, the department and the business will refine, build and test the solution with close involvement of departmental stakeholders.
More info and application details: https://careers.dwp.gov.uk/reverse-pitch/
