DCU is set to host a three day design and hardware hackathon this weekend. The aim of this Hardware Hackathon is to encourage partnerships among industrial designers and Internet of Things (IoT) innovators.
The event, which is being run in conjunction with PCH International, DCU Innovation Campus, the National College of Art and Design and the Web Summit, is bringing hackers together for the weekend and letting them form teams to realise ideas into prototypes and pitches, particularly around getting hardware and software to connect and solve problems.
Throughout the three days, participants will have access to developer kits, Raspberry Pi’s, 3D Printers, CNC machines, soldering irons and other tools to develop their product. There will be cash prizes worth €3,000 for continuing development of the winning products, as well as tickets to the Web Summit.
Participants will also be invited to pitch ideas to the crowd and attract the audience to form design and production teams. After the best ideas are voted on, participants will work together in teams, with Radionics hosting a pop-up electronics shop to support the prototyping activity. Airbnb will provide hackers with the comforts of home for the 36-hour hackathon.
Prof Christine Loscher, from DCU’s School of Biotechnology and director of DCU’s Health Technologies Research & Enterprise Hub, will be a mentor at the Hackathon and she encouraged more women to take part in the event.
“I’m a scientist and I go on evidence,” says Loscher, “and at the last hackathon, women were well represented in the winning teams. So if I were going along as a hacker to this event, I would be making sure there are women on my team.”
“If you are a woman and you think this is not the place for me, then throw that idea out the window. Women were on the winning teams the last time” she added.
The Hardware Hackathon starts this Saturday in DCU’s Innovation Campus. Tickets cost €40 and are available via the Hardware Hackathon website.
Sharron Lynskey
Image: The Irish Times
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