LinkedIn and Accenture to ignite young brains through HackFest 2016

The event will offer a unique opportunity to the participating students to solve real-world business and human challenges with innovative and game-changing ideas.

The IT industry has been known to organise events, such as hackfests and code-a-thons for engaging the student community or the talent of tomorrow. However, organisations across industries now realise the benefits of such initiatives and have lately been finding new and interesting ways to engage young talent or students for idea generation and innovation.

Further strengthening the concept of and value offered by corporates collaborating with students, LinkedIn and Accenture have come together to organise a unique event , HackFest 2016. The fest will offer a unique opportunity to the participating students to solve real-world business and human challenges with innovative and game-changing ideas.

HackFest is going to be a high-energy, fun event where besides idea sharing, students will be able to enjoy food, drinks, activities, music, swag and networking. It is a fun platform for the students to discover and showcase talent, meet new people and take a sneak peek into their future as professionals. The hackathon will be a non-stop 20-hour run for the participants, challenging their grey cells to put forward innovative, revolutionary solutions to some of the biggest business and people challenges of today.

The HackFest will begin at 3 p.m. on Saturday evening, 24 September, in Bangalore and will continue nonstop for 20 hours till 12 noon the next day. During the fest, students from all over the country shall join hands to solve some of the biggest human challenges of today. The registrations are now open and all final and pre-final year students across graduate/postgraduate courses can register for a pre-event qualification process online, on the official HackFest page. This two-round qualification process will judge students first on their crisp and precisely written response to a question, and then on their video response to another question. The students shortlisted after the two rounds will be the HackFest finalists.

The HackFest finale will unfurl with the best and the sharpest minds engaged in discovering solutions to the problems presented before them. The solution can be a marketing campaign, a conceptual pitch for a product design, a business proposal, or a schematic for a demonstration and so on. A well-versed group of mentors will help the participants stay on track and deliver their best in the given time. All the requirements of students, such as their local travel to the venue, food and other refreshments will all be taken care of by LinkedIn and Accenture.

Adding to the entire thrill and excitement of the hackathon are the prizes for the winners — an interesting package of goodies from Apple, Bose and Moto, worth rupees two lacs! The teams at the second and third spots will also get products from Bose and Amazon worth a lac.

The jury will closely look at the quality of content, creativity and innovativeness of the candidates amongst other skills for problem solving, to decide on the best.

This hackathon is for sure going to bring out the best in future talent, providing them real-time experience of business issues. Such initiatives not only reveal fresh perspectives for organisations to look at business and human issues, they are also a win-win for the participants because of the learning and exposure they offer.