On the 6th November 2010 Holbeck Urban Village will play host to the first overnight ‘Hack Day’ in the North of England.

Bringing software developers, designers, engineers, and animators together for a frantic 24 hours of development, innovation and creativity, the Leeds Hack Day, held at City Inn, has been organised to celebrate this year’s Leeds Digital Festival.

“A hack day is simply an opportunity for anyone with an interest in the digital sector, be it web developers, apps programmers, software specialists of digital designers, to meet up in an informal way and learn something new without the pressure of business,” says Dom Hodgson of Hodgetastic, the Leeds-based web development and events company behind the day. “The event is held over a weekend and is totally free to attend, it’s about trying new things and finding new talents working with people who you may otherwise never get the chance to meet.”

Originally held by leading technology companies such as Yahoo and Google, a Hack Day is designed to stimulate innovation by removing the barriers and constraints in a normal work environment. The people taking part are given access to large quantities of data and a time constraint to create anything they feel would be useful or work to a specific brief if they choose.

Hack Days lead to the creation of anything from new website and viral games to mobile apps and on-line platforms. The days take place world-wide with around five a year taking place in the UK, ranging from specific music related hack days to government sponsored hack days that have produce better services for local authorities.

While Hack Days are really about community building they are a fantastic opportunity for businesses. They are great way to train and develop staff by allowing them an opportunity to learn new code or try another skill without fear of failure. For businesses submitting a brief to the event it’s a bit of a no-brainer, you could have up to £30,000 worth of development time over the weekend, and while the IP belongs to the developers many people just want to see their work in action so are happy to licence it or sell it at a reasonable rate.

The Hack Days are also known for their rewards and the Leeds Hack Day certainly knows how to reward 24 hours of gruelling creativity and dedication to development. “The prizes for the hack are amazing and we are really lucky and grateful to have some very generous sponsors for the event, including BMI who will send the winning team on a trip to Brussels for two nights including flights and accommodation.” Other prizes include a sim card from mobile network provider GiffGaff, a company dubbed as ‘the Wikipedia of the mobile world’ and a custom-designed iPad/laptop / mobile skin courtesy of Gadget Glamour.

Leanne Buchan, Marketing Officer for Holbeck Urban Village at Leeds City Council comments: “We’re delighted to be supporting this event. The Leeds Hack Day is an event that reflects the businesses we have in the area and the idea of bringing those people together without work rivalries or the daily distractions of an office environment to create genuinely unique and engaging platforms is fantastic way to celebrate the digital sector we have in Holbeck and across the city.”

In a new twist on the hack day format, visitor passes are also available for those wanting to find out more about hack days and take a sneak peak at what 24 hours of uninterrupted development time can achieve. Previous Hack Day creation Tweet Trumps is an on-line game which had more than 15,000 plays in the first three days and still receives more than 200 visits per day.

Leeds Hack day is supported by Hodgetastic, Holbeck Urban Village, City Inn Hotels, CodeMyConcept, BMI, Giff Gaff, FreeAgent, Brightbox, and Gadget Glamour.

Image by: Martin Cunningham