This weekend (from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd of February, 2014), 50 technologists, marketing and business experts will engage with representatives from six of Nigeria’s top creative companies to build innovative technology tools to grow Nigeria’s cultural and creative sector at Culture Shift III.

Sponsored by British Council and run by Co-Creation Hub and Snook, Culture Shift is now in it’s third iteration in Nigeria after successful events in March 2012 and December 2012.

At Culture Shift III, six teams will build working prototypes of innovative technology platforms working alongside 6 top firms from Nigeria’s cultural and creative sector namely Mainframe Film Production (Film), Chocolate City (Music), Tae Wool Limited (Fashion), National Film Corporation (Film), Parresia Publishers Limited (Book Publishing) and Fetch Strategic Insights (Photography).

The teams will have 48 hours at the hackathon to:

• Build a working prototype of the solution
• Build a route-to-market strategy
• Build a sustainability strategy

The six solutions were shortlisted from a range of ideas generated at an idea hack in December 2013 which involved 12 creative companies. The ideas are:

1. Yoruba-centric film platform (Mainframe Film Production): A platform that provides access for Yoruba centric consumers to high quality audiovisual content both in the homeland and in the Diaspora.
2. Clothing production process engagement app (Tae Wool Limited): A platform that allows our customers to provide feedback, inspire, pre‐order and better engage with our products and production processes.
3. Nigerian Film Institute Online (National Film Corporation): A platform for all Nigerians with internet access providing the choice of learning through technology the art of film making.
4. African/Nigerian Digital Image Bank (Fetch Strategic Insights & Co): An African/Nigerian specific image bank showcasing outstanding & original contemporary creative visions/ideas e.g digital art works, food & events, entertainment, social trends, raves-of-the-moment, etc
5. Audience engagement platform (Chocolate City): A platform that pushes entertainment content Music, Videos, News (Blog posts), Gallery Updates to audiences across all platforms to sustain interest, engagement and ultimately readership
6. Book lovers community (Parresia Publishers Limited): An online community of book readers and enthusiasts to influence content as well as to better target the marketing of our books and other products.

The completed prototypes will be presented at a Show and Tell event starting at 4pm on the 23rd of February, 2014 at the CcHub.

The top 3 solutions at the end of the weekend, as selected by a panel of expert judges, will be awarded cash prizes of N800,000 (1st Prize), N500,000 (2nd Prize) and N300,000 (3rd Prize) respectively towards completion of their Minimum Viable Products.

Culture Shift serves a dual role of exposing the Nigerian creative industry to innovative technology solutions to enhance their output and reach while also exposing Nigerian technologists to opportunities to create solutions for our thriving cultural and creative sector.

Follow the hackathon at #CultureShift on Twitter