Hackathons
Heeding the
call to build
Hackathons are less of a challenge and more of a beacon. They’re a clarion call to do better, do more, improve the lives of real people across the country and around the globe, using our overwhelming talent and laser-focused thinking.
Inspiring action, producing results
Far from the bleary-eyed all-nighters many hackathons impose, ours take teams on a multi-month journey of discovery, reflection, ideation, iteration, and perfection. It’s a format that gives everyone space to bring their best thinking, encouraging us all to share expertise and ideas, fail fast and prove quickly, and unearth new ways to solve old problems. And by giving more teams more opportunities to participate, to dive into the technology and really understand it, our hackathons produce solutions that are often usable, and always inspiring.
2021 Slalom Hackathon
Hack for Climate Solutions
This year, Slalom’s long-form hackathon was 100% dedicated to exploring the impacts we can have on environmental sustainability. Inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Slalom’s Corporate Social Responsibility Report, we brought together creative programmers, big picture thinkers, and enthusiastic leaders to collaborate on our most pressing sustainability challenges. These included the pursuit of zero emissions, effective waste management and reduction programs, and protecting the environment and the biodiversity of our communities. In all, 150+ hackers in 21 teams across 4 countries brought their brainpower to bear on this important issue.
We’re proud to announce that team Meth Busters has been crowned the newest hackathon champion! This interdisciplinary team of Builders from Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Ft. Worth, Houston, New Jersey, New York, and Toronto tackled the problem of Methane emissions, the control of which has been identified by the UN as the strongest lever we have now in slowing climate change. Focused on monitoring those harmful emissions in the oil and gas industry, their innovative solution features low cost IoT Sensors and a cloud-based data and analytics package. Congrats to the whole team, and we can’t wait to see what’s next for this exciting effort!
Adam Farley, Benjamin Frederick, Carl Lowgren, Chris Freyer, Huy Vo, Iris Wei, Mukul Sood, Rob Farris, Sayani Boral, Yuvraj Sidhu
Learn more here: https://hackathon.slalom.com/teams/meth-busters
“I heard the word ‘hackathon’ and assumed I needed to be a coding whiz, but it was cool that anyone could participate and play different roles in the project.”
ERINN MITCHELL, ANALYST, SLALOM
Past hackathons
Hacking for Social Good II
Twenty-eight teams across North America partnered with not-for-profit organizations in their communities to help further efforts for social good using technology, creativity, and innovation. And after 7 months of work we're proud to announce our three winners. Team Cara, Team BUILD, and Team PetChain Pals showed what it means to really make an impact in the community.
Blockchain Hackathon
An interesting thing happens when you let loose hundreds of builders on an enigmatic and poorly-understood technology like blockchain: things get built. One summer, we put out the call to teams Slalom-wide to help us grasp blockchain’s mysterious magic—without using cryptocurrency. With solutions ranging from airplane part authentication, prescription drug tracking, and property ownership verification, our Builders really stepped up. In the end, a peer-to-peer energy sharing and distribution microgrid solution wowed the judges, and emerged victorious.
Hacking for Social Good I
For over three months, nearly 300 Slalom employees partnered with 36 not-for-profit organizations to help further their missions—from helping people rise out of poverty, to improving literacy in Uganda. "This was a great opportunity to foster a connection between two organizations I love so much,” says Slalom Chicago’s Danny Scott. “It was one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever worked on."
Artificial Intelligence Hackathon
Over six months, 23 Slalom teams put their heads and hearts together to create solutions using AI. The winners: a drone that can recognize missing persons and a platform that scrapes classified ad sites for sex trafficking information.
Microsoft HoloLens Hackathon
Slalom partnered with Microsoft to host our first-ever HoloLens hackathon championship. Six teams came together at Microsoft’s campus to present their innovative HoloLens creations in front of a panel of Microsoft judges, in hope of winning first place.
“Alexa, ask the team to hack the Amazon Echo”
Slalom teams worked to create new apps for the Amazon Echo. They developed skills that allowed people do things like ask Alexa to book a conference room or for advice on the age-old dilemma of what to get for lunch. “Now we know these things can be done,” says Slalom Boston’s Justin Lee, “so when developing software for clients, we can say, ‘With Echo, I was able to work around a limitation of being able to talk to something directly – and that might work here.'”