The Power of a Hackathon

During the week of May 15 – 19th , the Invest Brampton - Economic Development Office is proud to be celebrating Canada’s Innovation Week. This important week marks a five-day celebration recognizing and supporting ingenuity across all sectors.

This week, I’d like to take a moment to recognize a few student groups that I have been working closely with on behalf of the Brampton Innovation District, and the innovative and leadership qualities they’ve demonstrated in organizing Hackathons. Their ingenuity is the very epitome of everything that we are celebrating during this week.

Before I dive in, I’d like to take a moment to describe what exactly a hackathon is.

For those of you who may not know, a hackathon is a STEAM-learning event where a group of “coders” or “hackers” work together in a short period of time to collaborate on a project and solve a challenge. These are competitive style events where a project must be completed within a short time frame.

Hackathons range in style from “capture the flag” cybersecurity-styled coding events to having students compete against one another and present in front of a panel of judges. There is no strict rule to running a hackathon and they can vary widely depending on the level of creativity that you bring to the table.

Wolfhacks 2023

Working with the Wolfhacks team was one of my first projects as Coordinator, Innovation and Technology.

Wolfhacks is Chinguacousy Secondary School’s annual student-led hackathon and this year marked their fourth annual hackathon. This event brought together students across the Peel District School Board, ranging from Grades 7 – 12.

On Saturday May 6th, we played host to 250 students all together at Brampton City Hall.

The mission briefing for this hackathon? Following the apocalyptic explosion of our moon, the students needed to come up with innovative ideas to assist with disaster-relief.

The students were organized into teams of four (4) and provided with a designated working space to come up with their idea. They worked diligently for almost twelve hours, after which they would then need to present their idea to a panel of judges and mentors.

It was amazing to see the teams put their heads down and work collaboratively with one another to come up with a huge variety of ideas to solve the mission briefing. ?

One team actually prototyped an idea for a rover with motherboard and sensors that detected when objects were in front of it and could move around them.

Another used a tea kettle to create a simulated filtration system!

Well, it doesn’t stop there.

SPARK Learnathon

This coming Saturday, May 20th, we have another upcoming hackathon organized by a second group of students, called S.P.A.R.K, or STEAM Project Association of Research and Knowledge. It is a student-run non-profit organization that aims to empower youth in the community.

They are projected to bring together 90 students to participate in this hackathon which again will be hosted at Brampton City Hall.

Each team will be assigned one of six different technologies to work with, and need to solve their particular mission briefing based around the assigned tech.

It has been such a pleasure to work alongside S.P.A.R.K and their student leads to organize this event and I can’t wait to participate on Saturday as one of the judges.

May is definitely Hackathon month...

Having these two major events within two-weeks of one another is a lot of work – not only from my side – but by looking at the students who are dedicating their entire Saturday to (1) being involved directly in their community and (2) working collaboratively to challenge one another and create a new innovation.

By supporting hackathons in Economic Development, we continue to foster the growth of our talent pool in Brampton. We work closely alongside youth to empower and encourage them – because often times, people are more likely to plant their roots in a community which engaged with them and nurtured them from an early age. ?

It’s also an incredible business retention and attraction tool, as it highlights the talent in our community. Personally - I know that after attending the first event, I was completely blown away by the level of talent currently in our high schools.

We are so lucky to have such a talented group of engaged youth in the City of Brampton - and it makes me so incredibly proud to call this City my home. I can't wait to see where life takes these students next, and as I have already let them know, we will always be here to support them.