Hackathon projects fell into two pre-determined categories: 1) Things that would make it easier for Uptake internally (technical projects), and 2) Things that we could sell to partners or customers (commercial projects). Beyond that, and a few basic guidelines for teams, the possibilities were endless.
After the first round of demo presentations, eight finalists were selected to present “Shark Tank”-style to a panel of judges comprised of Uptake senior leadership, including our CEO, Brad Keywell. The room was packed with hundreds of Uptake team members eager to see what their peers had built in a mere three days.
Without further ado, the winning projects were ….
- Team Convergence (commercial category): Developed a tool that ingests a foreign data set and identifies what the data is and what Uptake applications apply to it.
- Team Carbonites (technical category): Developed a solution that drastically speeds up the end-to-end testing and deployment process.
- Team Sensor (people’s choice category): Built a platform for sensor-based alerting technology. The team used a drone to demonstrate the solution.
The hackathon came to a close with a company-wide celebration of the incredible teamwork, innovation and technical expertise that was demonstrated throughout the week. It was a true coming together of some of the smartest minds in Chicago – all Uptakers – and a demonstration of the entrepreneurial atmosphere that is Uptake.
Check out behind-the-scenes photos from “Hack It Up! Derby Style,” on our Facebook Page.