MENTOR MADNESS / MUNICH14 SEPTEMBER 2026

A GOODEXCUSE.

Hacktivism, inside
and outside government.

🚪

An excuse to step outside
everyday constraints.

INSIDE GOVERNMENTA SMALL CHANGE TO AN OLD SYSTEM

How many civil servants
does it take to change
a light bulb (bug)?

“This doesn’t look that difficult.”

MY COLLEAGUES’ RESPONSE

“Mashbean,
you’re being
very naive.”

Government doesn’t work like that.

CHANGE REQUESTCode
change
THE PART I HADN’T COUNTEDAccountability
& procurement

Someone has to be able to approve it.

RELEASEBetter
service

The code was never the only thing they were waiting for.

02 / 05
TAIWAN’S PRESIDENTIAL HACKATHONAN EXCUSE TO WORK TOGETHER

Suddenly, there’s
room to do something.

President Tsai Ing-wen and Audrey Tang with participants at the 2019 Presidential Hackathon award ceremony.
2019 award ceremony · Office of the President, Taiwan
I, as president,
support reform.

Tsai Ing-wen
27 July 2019

AFTER THE AWARDTHE FOLLOW-THROUGH IS THE INTERESTING PART

Some good examples

2018 WINNER / EMERGENCY CARE

One-Stop
Emergency Care

救急救難一站通

01Ambulance
care
02Hospital
treatment
03Patient
outcomes

National Fire Agency × health ministry × NCDR

20

cities & counties
Automated data transfers
2024 results · NCDR

CircuPlus’s Feng Cha app showing drinking-water refill points around Taipei Main Station.
CircuPlus · app image, 2023

2020 WINNER / CIRCuPLUS

Feng Cha

An empty bottle.
A place to refill it.

Already a civic project
before the hackathon.

6,000 → 15,000+

Refill points · 2020 → team report, 2025

2021 WINNER / LASS

A continuing
place at the table.

Shared maps and local knowledge
in Touqian River governance.

Water Resources Agency partnership since 2019

Participants around a conference table at a LASS and Water Resources Agency collaboration meeting.
Collaboration meeting · Water Resources Agency
BACK OUTSIDE GOVERNMENTPUBLIC CODE CAN KEEP GOING

Institutionalized
hacktivism
can drive a
paradigm shift.

Hackathons as a possible path
into innovation procurement.

Bond / 有備而來CIVIC TECH, CONTINUED
Bond’s original forest illustration: woodland animals, including a Formosan black bear, gather with glowing jars beneath a tree.
bonds.tw ↗Original project illustration

AFTER THE HACKATHON

Let the experiment
outlive the event.

If I can help, come and find me.mashbean.net ↗

Speaker notes

Download script ↓