Brother hosts virtual hackathon event
May 29, 2020
Brother’s third-annual hackathon went virtual in midst of the new economy, bringing together app developers from Washington State and beyond.
The third-annual hackathon by Brother International Corporation and subsidiary Brother Mobile Solutions attracted 40 designers and developers competing in 26 teams over the course of several weeks in April and May, culminating in a resoundingly successful main virtual event 15-16 May.
The winning team received the grand prize of $5,000 (€4,492) for spurring innovation in software application development for Brother’s printing, scanning and labelling solutions.
Following 2019’s successful Hackathon in Dallas, this year, for the first time ever, the hackathon was virtual amid ongoing social-distancing requirements. Interest was as strong as ever, as applications to participate in the virtual hackathon had to be capped due to capacity limitations.
Brother explained that in keeping with global events, competitors were challenged to build apps to promote health and social good. For example, preceding the main hackathon, contestants could participate in three mini-hackathons:
- Mini-hackathon challenge #1: Build a gift card app for small businesses that allows them to sell gift cards to generate revenue during these challenging times.
- Mini-hackathon challenge #2: Build a signage app for essential businesses that prints instant signs, which will help inform employees and customers of the latest local health mandates.
- Mini-hackathon challenge #3: Build a social good app to help seniors and persons with disabilities who live in local nursing homes.
“Hackathons are always an incredible outlet for team collaboration and creativity,” said Bob Brady, Senior Product Manager, Brother International Corporation. “The first goal was to have fun, but the projects demonstrated here could truly have real-world business impact.”
Contestants were graded by a judging panel consisting of Brother executives, as well as guest judge Dan Anderson, creator of the popular Dad Logic technology blog.
“We challenged every entrant to apply their ingenuity to some of Brother’s most advanced products,” said Ronak Patel, Technical Marketing Specialist, Brother International Corporation. “The thought and dedication given to unlocking these devices’ full potential was very impressive.”
“As a first time judge, it was amazing to see the collaboration between the truly innovative application developers who participated this year and the Brother engineers from both the US and Japan. I’m bullish on a few applications that I think have a real opportunity to translate into enterprise solutions for our customers and resellers across multiple verticals,” said Greg O’Connell, Vice President of Sales for Brother Mobile Solutions.
Categories : Around the Industry
Tags : app Brother Hackathon Innovation
