National Australia Bank (NAB) and Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, are jointly hosting a hackathon to explore new ways to help Australian small businesses sell their wares in China and better serve Chinese tourists.
The three-day event, the first major activity held at fintech hub Stone & Chalk’s new residence at the Goods Shed in Melbourne, will see 100 contestants across 15 teams use NAB, Alibaba Cloud and Alipay APIs to manipulate dummy consumer data and develop new ideas for tapping into Chinese markets.
Stone & Chalk Melbourne general manager Alan Tsen says: “Events like this hackathon are a great way to highlight the latent opportunities that exist for companies to tap into the Asian market. With more than 100 entrants, there are sure to be some amazing product ideas that come out of the weekend.”
The winning team will walk away with a prize that includes US$10,000 Alibaba Cloud credits and return airfares and accommodation for four people to Singapore or China to coincide with Alibaba's annual Cloud Computing Conference programme.