Melbourne, Victoria: MI Academy today announced Hack for Heros, a new iteration of the award-winning annual Hack Games event taking place during Retail Week on the 28th February 2024.

The event typically focuses on developing innovative commercial solutions for the retail industry but for 2024 it’s changing it’s focus to help those in need during economic hardship. Hack for Heros is a one-day design thinking hackathon that brings together Australia’s brightest retail and eCommerce minds for one day, to develop customised solutions for charity partners including Confit Pathways, TLC for Kids, Share the Dignity and Homie and more to come.

“This year we’re excited to shift the focus for HackGames. Considering the current industry climate, this year we are centring our theme around a problem worth solving for those doing important work in our communities.” says Alita Harvey-Rodriguez, Founder and Director at MI Academy.

According to Philanthropy Australia, one-quarter of Australians have not donated to a charity in the past year and our charitable donations lag behind comparable countries. We would need to lift donations to charities from $13.1 billion to $30 billion annually to match New Zealand.

“Going into our fifth year of HackGames, we wanted to take all of our success from previous events and apply that format to collaborate and support charities in 2024, we want to help bridge the donations gap in Australia to help generate innovative ideas and solutions that will get Australians donation at least the $30 billion of contributions like our neighbouring New Zealand” continues Harvey-Rodriguez, “In 2024 we will be hacking for good, partnering with 6 charities to drive impact across the nation.”

The 2024 event is supported by a line-up of leading Australian eCommerce providers, including Preezie, Dotdgitial, MessageMedia, Sinch, ShipBob and Overdose.

A limited number of positions are open to retail and eCommerce professionals to join HackGames. Applications for Hack for Heroes is open now. For more information and to apply to Hack, visit https://miacademy.com.au/events-workshops/hackgames-2024.

About MI Academy: MI Academy is an award-winning team training and consultancy provider. We give retailers the confidence and capabilities needed to drive enhanced marketing performance, customer experience (CX), design thinking and organisational change.