At a glance
| Hackagong | Hack the Gong | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A brand and ongoing experiment in building togetherHackathons since 2012 | A hackathon hosted by iAccelerate |
| Operating since | November 2012 | August 2026A student club ran a similar “Hackathon 2024” at iAccelerate in March 2024 |
| Run by | Students and community volunteers | UOW’s iAccelerate |
| Uses “hackagong” | Its registered name since 2012 | As a keyword on its 2026 ticket listing, since removedArchived copy |
| Format | One weekend, 30 hours | A “30‑hour innovation challenge” |
| Trade mark | Hackagong®Registered trade mark No. 1531627, filed 2012 | None on the register |
“Hack the Gong” details are from UOW’s event page. The trade mark is on the IP Australia register.
Timeline
Hackagong hosts its first event in the SMART building at the University of Wollongong: 30 hours, 90 competitors, 27 teams. iAccelerate is one of the sponsors.
Hackagong is filed as a trade mark. It has been registered ever since.
Hackagong 2013, 2014 and 2015, plus HackagongX Code and Hackagong3D, growing to 160 competitors and $150,000 in prizes in 2015. Hackagong hosted most of its main weekends at the UOW UniCentre, and iAccelerate sponsored most years. All up since 2012: 577 competitors and $305,000 in prizes.
Hackagong DIY starts with Hackagong Bega: Hackagong offers to help regional towns set up and run their own hackathons (archived copy).
Hackagong 2017 is set for UOW’s Innovation Campus, home of iAccelerate, as part of the Wollongong Fringe Festival, then called off.
Hackagong 2020 is planned, presented by Microsoft at the UOW Library, then postponed by COVID.
Hackagong DIY remains available to regional towns that want to run their own Hackagong (archived copy, 2024).
The Hackagong trade mark is renewed for another ten years, to 2032 (IP Australia register).
The UOW Startup Society, a student club, runs a 30‑hour “Hackathon 2024” at iAccelerate (archived copy).
iAccelerate runs “Hack the Gong”. Its ticket listing included the “hackagong” trade mark as a keyword, since removed (archived copy).
About Hackagong
- Multidisciplinary from the startArtists, engineers, coders and makers on the same teams, when most hackathons were for coders only or built around one company’s API.
- Australia’s first 3D printing, AR and VR competitionsPrototypes you can hold, not slide decks.
- Canva tested its first beta hereThe year it sponsored Hackagong, 2013.
- IndependentHackagong has never been renamed and is not connected to “Hack the Gong”.