5 of the biggest moments for the Delaware tech scene in 2016

The Delaware tech scene has accomplished a lot in 2016 and there’s a lot to be proud of. We celebrated the accomplishments at Delaware Innovation Week in November at the Delaware Innovation Awards where companies, organizations and people received recognition. Here are some memorable moments from 2016:

• The State of Delaware launched its open data portal in October, which elated civic hackers from New Castle to Sussex County. “It’s a huge improvement,” said Open Data Delaware cofounder David Ginzberg (Don’t forget to mark your calendars for his AMA on Friday).
• Girl Develop It hosted its first annual East Coast regional hackathon in Wilmington. This brought in members from the Philadelphia, Camden County, Lehigh Valley and Baltimore chapters. A great spotlight on Wilmington’s Girl Develop It chapter, which is only a year old and currently stands at over 600 members.
• Zip Code Wilmington was recognized by the White House and was chosen as one of eight schools around the country to participate in the United States Department of Education’s EQUIP program to facilitate education through non-traditional academic programs. The school was also honored by outgoing Gov. Jack Markell by way of proclamation last month.
• Eighth grader Rohan Kanchana from Newark Charter won the Congressional App Challenge with his Geography App. The challenge was judged by a number of Delaware tech scene movers and shakers.
• Wilmington launched its first startup accelerator, Delaware Startup Launchpad, which included workshops across three coworking spaces in Wilmington. $5,000 was given out to the four winners.

While there’s a lot to be proud of, the tech scene has a lot to look forward to in 2017.