Social Value in Defence hackathon project wins international data award

The Institute of Analytics (IoA) has given its first ever ‘Data for Social Good Award’ to the Social Value in Defence hackathon project.

The cross-industry collaboration included Microsoft, Ministry of Defence, Defence Equipment and Support, social value platform, whatimpact, Plymouth City Council, BAE Systems and Northrup Grumman.

The team of data analysts and social value experts were announced the as winners of this award today, February 9, 2023, following the hackathon pilot at the end of last year.

During the hackathon, the team built and tested a comprehensive dataset combining advanced analytics in several days. With that data, the team was able to create an in-depth analysis of the chosen pilot area, Plymouth, providing information that will be vital to help businesses plan and better understand social value needs.

The pilot was led by Babcock’s team, using their local knowledge of Plymouth as the area’s largest employer. The team wanted to see if they could successfully create a credible, accessible and easy to use, open-source data directory. The idea was to create a shared vision between government, private sector and charities, to help them make better informed social value decisions around employment, environmental or community projects.