First annual EcoHack event begins on campus today
The School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS) is a proud partner and sponsor of EcoHack, Saskatchewan's first environment- and sustainability-focused hackathon.
What is EcoHack?
Be a Part of Saskatchewan's First Environment- and Sustainability-Focused Hackathon
Get ready for an entirely new take on solving Saskatoon's most pressing environment and sustainability problems. EcoHack is a three day rapid-problem-solving event that gives local organizations and businesses the ability to pitch their burning environment and sustainability challenges to a group of innovative and creative students. Teams of undergraduate and graduate students then work to find solutions to the problem of their choice.
Wrapping up the event on Sunday with demonstrations of their work, teams will have access to business professionals who will be on hand to mentor teams through the development of an effective demonstration and/or business pitch for their solution.
By hosting EcoHack, we hope to help find solutions to environment and sustainability issues that impact our local community. We hope to use EcoHack to empower students by helping them use their skills in a real-world setting and giving them the opportunity to create a business with the support and advice of successful local professionals.
Who Can Participate?
EcoHack will be open to anyone who wants to innovate, tinker, and make things! In particular, we are targeting undergraduate and graduate students engaged in one of our eight environmental programs on campus, engineering, computer science, and business.
Schedule
Tuesday, November 20
Participants are invited to attend a non-mandatory “training session” where they will get tips and tricks from experts in areas such as: hackathon how-to, ideation, business pitch creation, etc.
Friday, November 23
Community partners will have two minutes to pitch an open ended "challenge" to participants, who will then choose which challenge they want to work on. Participants will then be connected with peers and professionals for networking and assistance.
Saturday, November 24
Participants will choose a challenge and work in teams to analyze their chosen issue. The goal is to come up with a novel, innovative solution to this problem and to work to develop a (likely rudimentary) prototype.
Sunday, November 25
Groups will develop a business pitch centered on their work and will be given five minutes each to pitch their ideas and showcase their innovative solutions to a spectator audience and a panel of judges. EcoHack organizers will not retain any of the intellectual property that emerges from this event. Prizes will be awarded and the event wraps up with a networking event with industry and our students.
Location
Louis' Loft, University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5C8
Register
Registration for EcoHack is now open!
We welcome all participants of various ages and backgrounds to get involved with EcoHack!
Tickets for Ecohack can be found on our EventBrite page. If you are unable to purchase a ticket, please contact us as we have several sponsored seats available.