Hardware Hackathon Dublin May 22-24

By Administrator

What Is a Hackathon?

 

A hackathon is an event where people bring their  ideas.  They pitch them to the crowd and the crowd votes.  The top 10 ideas then get made.  The crowd splits itself into teams to make, test, break, start again, and on the final day the team pitches its idea.

hardware hackathon news

The team works hard to prove their concept. The members are a combination of techies, business, marketing, cynics and dreamers.  Its mad, its stressful and its probably the best fun you can have sober, with your clothes on.

There are prizes to be won, ideas to be tested and romances to be made (nah I made that up!). The organisers provide tools, expertise, shelter and food.

Upcoming PCH DCU Hardware Hackathon

 

Understandably we are excited for the upcoming hackathon taking place in Dublin on May 22-24.  Over 100 will beat a path to the DCU Innovation Campus where a Céad Míle Fáilte and a warm hardware developers’ welcome from Ronan Furlong will kickstart the 3rd PCH DCU Hardware Hackathon.

Inspiration will come from the likes of Intel, Niall Austin of MooCall Sensors, Emer O’Daly of Loveandrobots, Ann O’Dea of Silicon Republic, Jack Phelan of Drop and other successful business people.

Advice, sanity checks and tools will be provided by hands-on mentors, such as Michael Aubrey of Autodesk, Rory Stoney of StoneyCNC , Anatoly Lebedev of Cesanta and other evangelists from the hardware development world, including ourselves Mint Tek Circuits.

Each team pitches on Sunday and the winning team receives

  • €3,000 for that company.
  •  A starter office free of charge for four months on the DCU Innovation Campus.
  • Opportunity to connect with innovative ‘connected hardware’ companies across wearables, sensors, robotics, 3D printing, energy and health technologies — ranging from Siemens to Shimmer Sensing and from Veolia to VSP Global.

Previous Hackathon Success

There are other prizes and other potential opportunities.  Just ask Co-founders James Foody and Aoife Crowley of Ayda, who are currently sweating their idea out on the Highway 1 in San Francisco.  They were first seen at the PCH DCU Hackathon in 2014.

54 hours of cut skin, burnt fingers, hoarse voices, laughs, cries and brilliance.  You know you have to go, to see, feel and make the magic.

I’ll see you there, bring plasters!

Have you ever been to a Hardware Hackathon? Share your thoughts and experiences with us!

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