Hackathons are popular, community-based computer programming events that take place all over the world, in which software developers come together to collaborate and compete against each other, either in teams or individually, to create new software in a limited amount of time. Popularized by tech giants like Facebook and Google, Hackathons have become a unique aspect of the modern tech culture.
Marcato’s first ever Hackathon was a huge success last year, seeing an all-female team take home the grand prize for an app they built to support their local humane society. This year, Marcato is hoping to see even more of the community participate in this friendly competition, which encourages people to dream, build, and innovate right here in Cape Breton.
“It’s important we celebrate the innovation we have here in Cape Breton–to encourage those who are already doing awesome things to ‘keep going’ and inspire those who haven’t tapped into their full potential yet,” says Darren Gallop, CEO of Marcato. “Hackathons foster this type of thinking and that’s why Marcato believes it’s an important initiative for us to lead. We’re very thankful to have partners helping us do that, because without them the event just wouldn’t be a success.”
The Marcato Hackathon is sponsored in part by multiple community organizations and ambassadors, including Annette Verschuren, Protocase, Cape Breton Partnership, Doktor Luke’s Coffee Shop, Breton Brewing, NSBI, and UIT Startup Immersion. Each participating sponsor is contributing because they want to help nurture and encourage Cape Breton’s growing tech community, which they believe has the potential to prosper and contribute greatly to the local economy.
Interested participants must apply to participate, and can find more information at marcatohackathon.com.
