Some 700 students are spending an all-nighter at Concordia over the weekend to take part in the university's annual HackConcordia hackathon.
The goal is for developers to create the best tech projects in 24 hours.
“Whatever they want to create -- whether it’s an artificial intelligence application, whether it’s a website, a virtual reality application, augmented reality or even a videogame -- we try to provide a platform and the tools for them to be able to actually do so,” explained HackConcordia president Andres Hernandes, who is also a former participant.
This is the fourth edition of the event that has become incredibly popular; 700 students participate, but as many as 3,000 apply every year from across Canada to take part.
The HackConcordia hackathon is sponsored in part by 20 tech companies all at the ready to see if any of the talented computer programmers come up with something that they might want to invest in, or if any of these students might eventually become one of their employees. The companies' representatives often act as mentors during the event.
“Mostly these companies have a lot of technologies they want to provide to help the students become motivated and also inspire them to create with those technologies and apply them to their own projects,” said Hernandes.
In this sector, it is the students who are in charge, because they are in demand.
“What we try to encourage the most at HackConcordia… is productivity and creativity,” said Hernandes.
HackConcordia's all-night hackathon begins Saturday night.
