Over 2,000 participants have signed up for ACS’ Flatten the Curve hackathon launching this afternoon.

The virtual event, which will run until 6pm on Saturday 11 April, has seen more than 2,000 competitors and over 150 mentors sign up to address the 62 different challenges submitted by the tech community through the #flattenthecurvehack website.

Among the participants for the hackathon is Mengyao Wang who has a personal stake in controlling the spread of COVID-19.

“This is my first time participating in a hackathon," she said.

"I've heard about them before, but I always thought that it was something more for computer science wizzes or programmers.

"But this challenge was different. My nana is confined in a nursing home right now because of this, and so many others have it worse. So, I stood up.

"It was super easy and friendly being onboarded and I've already met a couple amazing tech and domain mentors who can bolster my design and humanitarian interests. I hope to see more of these happening and competing even more!”

Leading the hackathon is ACS Head of Data Science, Steve Nouri who was heartened by how many people signed up for the hackathon.

“It is totally amazing to see all these people ready to collaborate for more than 48 hours to find some applicable solutions around the coronavirus challenges," Nouri said.

Steve Nouri, ACS Head of Data Science, said, "It is totally amazing to see all these people ready to collaborate for more than 48 hours."

“I have been involved in more than 12 national and international hackathons in the past couple of years and I can testify that this is right now the largest hackathon we have ever had in the APAC region.”

ACS Chief Executive Officer Andrew Johnson was encouraged to see Australian technologists working together.

“We’ve seen a tremendous response from IT professionals and the broader innovation ecosystem," he said.

"We know that flattening the curve will remain a challenge for Australia and the rest of the world for many weeks to come.

“Modern technology allows our most creative minds to remain focused on solving society’s greatest problems even during lockdown. We’re looking to emerge stronger from the current difficult situation caused by the coronavirus, driven by the best that Australian innovation has to offer.”

Leading the 150-plus team of mentors is ACS’ Janson Lim.

“It goes without saying what a great privilege to help organise something that may be potentially so impactful," he said.

"Not only for Australia in its healthcare, economic and social resilience, but also to potentially export these solutions all over the world.”

The hackathon’s results will be released in coming weeks.