Cape TechWeek should draw

It's time for Cape Girardeau to get its Geek on. And that's a good thing.

TechWeek is coming July 22, with an array of activities for the technology-inclined among us.

As business reporter Bridget Brown recently reported, TechWeek will offer networking opportunities for entrepreneurs, educational opportunities for children and give developers, designers, artists and researchers a chance to compete for a prize.

The Code For Cape Hackathon is a free competition that will prompt participants to develop tech solutions to civic problems. The competition, organized by tech startup incubator Codefi, is inviting teams from all over Southeast Missouri to attend. Winners will receive $5,000 and agree to make their solution available via open-source repositories.

On July 23, TechWeek will narrow its focus to the younger techies in our area with the Code-Cape Youth Code Studio, a three-hour program where children from third through eighth grades will learn programming skills, using them with games to foster learning and excitement as they're introduced to programming. Other such programs have proved popular. This one will be hosted as part of the new Code Cape initiative, in partnership with the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce.

On July 26, there will be a Tech Talk, touted as a "TED for geeks", where local tech people can be inspired by innovators.

These are just part of the events planned during tech week. For more information about times and locations, visit marquettetech.com/techweek.

We are encouraged by the signs pointed toward more tech businesses and opportunities coming to Cape Girardeau. If you're interested in what's going on with tech in Cape, TechWeek might be just the time to see what the buzz is all about.