Ideas for the future flow at recent Hack Fed Square event part of Melbourne Knowledge Week

60 members of the public came together on Friday evening and Saturday for Hack Fed Square, a design hack competition run by Fed Square and Marketing Entourage as part of Melbourne Knowledge Week, with some outstanding ideas resulting from the initiative.

Posed the question: How can we ensure Fed Square remains one of Melbourne’s key cultural landmarks and iconic meeting places – a space where creativity, curiosity and inspiration collide?, participants, formed into teams, competed against each other and a tight eight hour deadline to come up with innovative concepts.

The event began with a briefing on the current situation for Fed Square, on the evening of May 24, and was followed by a day of collaborative, creative planning and idea development on May 25. At the conclusion of the hack, teams pitched their ideas to a panel of expert judges for the chance to have their idea become a reality at Fed Square. The judging panel comprised of Ari Suss, CEO, Fox Special Projects; Michelle Fitzgerald, chief digital officer and manager, Smart City Office – City of Melbourne; Suzana Bishop, general manager – commercial and public engagement, Fed Square; and Trent Clews-de-Castella, co-founder and CEO, PHORIA.

While there were a range of exciting ideas put forward following Hack Fed Square, the winning idea as judged by the panel was Team Fed Up’s tech-driven concept to bring Fed Square’s values of sustainability, history and tradition, and arts and culture to life via augmented reality in order to increase community engagement and connection with the space and the kaleidoscope of experiences on offer.

Says Suzana Bishop, general manager – commercial and public engagement at Fed Square: “Hack Fed Square was a great success and we are incredibly grateful to all of the participants who took part in this fast-paced, high-intensity event and came up with some exciting, innovative, and forward-thinking ideas.

“While only one idea could be the winner of the competition, all of the concepts presented were impressive and demonstrated the passion of all participants and their desire to help Fed Square innovate and remain an iconic destination.”

Hack Fed Square was held as part of Melbourne Knowledge Week, held from 20 – 26 May, proudly presented by the City of Melbourne, facilitated by Marketing Entourage and supported by PHORIA and Uvideo.