Mobile developers and coding experts from across the UK are being invited to create an app that “facilitates social change through sport” at the inaugural Sport England Sport Technology Awards Hackathon.

Taking place on 2-3 October 2015, developers will be given 24 hours to develop a new product – perhaps the sports equivalent of Facebook or Snapchat – in order to inspire young people to play more sport.

Teams of up to six people – at least one of whom must be female – will be asked to develop a concept that encourages a particular demographic group to be more physically active. The exact profile of the target market will be revealed to the teams on the day.

Judges will select the best three ideas from the day, with the winning concept being announced at The Sports Technology Awards in April 2016.

Sport England’s director of business partnerships Tanya Joseph said: “Sport and technology both have an amazing power to bring together people from different backgrounds.

“I’m hoping that the combination of the two will have a real impact. The Hackathon will use this generation’s tech gurus to create an app to benefit the next generation. We encourage anyone with any coding or app development skills to get involved and be a part of this exciting initiative.”

Rebecca Hopkins, CEO of The Sports Technology Awards, added: “The Hackathon is an exciting move forward both for the awards and the sports tech sector.

Thanks to Sport England, we have been able to create an element of the awards that have real purpose and reflect the fact that we are at the heart of change within the sector.”

• The Hackathon is free to enter and is open to all UK residents over the age of 18. Applications to take part close at 5pm on 7 September 2015 with successful teams having their place on the Hackathon confirmed on 11 September 2016. For the full rules and to register your interest click here.