Experiences as a Judge at a Hackathon in Taiwan
by Exosite, on August 25, 2016
As I write this, I am on a plane home from judging the HackNTU event hosted at National Taiwan University in Taipei. The event included over 600 participants, judges, and sponsors from around the world. This was Asia’s largest hackathon, with developers working for 40 straight hours on high-intensity development. These projects were then judged under 5 different categories, with prizes awarded to the most creative and well-executed ideas. It was a privilege to be a guest at this well-attended, organized, and energetic event!
Exosite collaborated with Microchip to sponsor the event and provided assistance to many of the participants, including a free development kit and access to Exosite’s breakthrough IoT platform–Murano. Exosite also provided enterprise awards to five chosen teams for their outstanding use of Murano in their solutions.
I was asked to judge the Smart Life competition and witnessed some very creative solutions and exceptional presentations. It was humbling to see what could be built in such a short amount of time. The winner in the Smart Life category combined virtual reality with augmented reality–creating a system that matched the movements of the user to previously recorded movements of other people. What can’t be improved with the Internet of Things?
While in Taiwan, I was also able to visit the Exosite offices in Taipei and Taichung. It’s always rewarding to meet our global team members in person, rather than talking via Skype. Seeing their tangible excitement and hearing firsthand the opportunities in the Asian region reminds me of the potential for IoT and the unique position Exosite is in to make an impact worldwide.
This was truly a unique experience for me–even after many years of living in the IoT world. It was thrilling to meet several industry and university representatives from so many countries, while representing Exosite and showcasing our capabilities in this revolutionary world of technology.
-Steve VanderSanden, Vice President of Professional Services