Unearthed Denver: why innovation in mining is so important
Unearthed is an Australian-based innovation group servicing the mining and resources industry around the world. By running exciting open innovation events and competitions such as hackathons, they are providing a forum and an environment where entrepreneurs, innovators and startups can come together to solve challenges from the biggest resources companies. The aim is to address industry’s challenges, but from a new and untested source — startups and entrepreneurs. Unearthed opens industry data and publicly releases challenges to create opportunities and supports the prototypes developed through incubation and acceleration creating startups.

Now, you’re probably thinking — so what? The hackathon concept isn’t anything new and its good but can it really be taken seriously? Well, in many ways, its not really about the hackathon, it is about three things:
- Connecting industry to innovators
- Accessing digital talent to take industry into a new age
- Driving cultural change
The hackathon is a meeting point and the pressure cooker environment that it creates is where magic happens. But importantly, it is just the first stage in the Unearthed funnel which starts by encouraging industry to become more open about its challenges and data, and ends with industry supporting startups that have the time, skill and ability to deliver the much needed innovations.
Unearthed is coming to Denver from September 22–24 to host its hackathon event at Galvanize in Golden Triangle.
The Unearthed Denver hackathon will feature four big mining industry challenges:
- Risky Business! Develop a Risk Assessment Platform
- Feed the Fire! Roasting Sweet Spot
- Predicting Agitator Failures: What are the Triggers?
- Man vs. Machine: Sort the Rocks
Each challenge covers a different tech theme that is currently impacting the mining sector globally. Themes or “trends” such as automation, predictive analytics, machine learning and the internet of things are driving a new world of change about industry. These trends are providing efficiency gains and cost reductions for some of the biggest players in the industry.
A recent McKinsey report estimates that technology advances from now to 2035 will unlock $900 bn — $1.6 trillion dollars worth of value into the resources sector. It is off the back of open innovation events like Unearthed where this value will be unlocked from.
Unearthed Denver will be the first time the West Australian group has hosted its event in Denver, following international hackathons in Cape Town (2016), San Francisco (2016), Toronto (2017) and Buenos Aires most recently.
Taking place at the start of Denver Startup Week, the hackathon will aspire to invigorate the community of innovators and entrepreneurs that exist.
“As the Colorado tech community continues to grow rapidly, it’s important that we make it a priority to welcome global innovation projects like Unearthed to support the growth and increase the value of our ecosystem in mining technology,” said Julie Sandschafer, Director of Business Development at Built in Colorado.
“Over 80 innovators and 50 observers from a wide range of industries will join the hackathon and we’re anxious to see just how the Denver community stacks up against others that we’ve hosted this event at. Its a fantastic environment to start entrepreneurial ventures and with the mining and oil and gas presence that exists, it is a natural fit for Unearthed to host its hackathon event at,” said Mikey Kailis of Unearthed.
Unearthed Denver will take place from September 22–24 at Galvanize in the Golden Triangle. To find out more about the hackathon and about Unearthed visit http://unearthed.solutions
