Sometimes friendly competition is the best route to realizing new innovations.
This is the primary goal of two recently annouced an open call for hackathons participants taking place between now and mid-December.
Quantum encryption
01 Communique Laboratory Inc. launched its quantum hackathon tackling the threat of quantum computing. Cybersecurity companies, computer science students and hackers have begun challenging the Company’s ‘quantum-safe’ encryption in a $100,000 hackathon.
On November 6th, the Company hosted an innovation celebration event with technology presentations from industry experts in artificial intelligence and cyber security. Andrew Cheung, 01 Communique’s CEO, was one of the presenters addressing business people, students, and hackers on the threat quantum computers present with respect to keeping your data safe. He revealed the purpose behind the hackathon and why he is confident enough to offer a $100,000 prize.
Andrew Cheung enthusiastically described the hackathon challenge, “Our hackathon will show the world that our encryption is rock-solid. We are the only Canadian company and the first post-quantum encryption to offer a prize of $100,000. We have invested over three years in developing our IronCAP technology with a development team that has combined 50 years of experience in code-based encryption. We are very confident that our technology will withstand any attempt by any participant to crack the code in our hackathon.”
01 expects contestants from around the world to challenge its quantum-safe encryption. The hackathon is available online globally. Anyone to who has a Google or Facebook account can sign up to participate. Contestants will be given 30 days to crack IronCAP’s code. A cash prize of $100,000 will be awarded to the first person (if there is any) who is able to break the encryption. A paper describing the method used to crack the encryption is required to be submitted by the participant.
Innovative people working in tech along with researchers, computer scientists, students and hackers are encouraged to sign up for the hackathon. Signup will be accepted online at www.ironcap.ca beginning November 11, 2019, and the contest closes on December 12, 2019. Result will be announced on or about December 16, 2019.
Taking flight
Global IT provider Stefanini is hosting an Innovation Hackathon on Dec. 6, 2019 at its Southfield Innovation Center. The focus for this hackathon is to fly a Tello drone using voice commands. The event is open and free and requires some technology knowledge: HTML, Javascript and CSS, HTTP REST API, C# (.NET). Familiarity with Microsoft PowerBI streaming datasets and dashboards is a plus.
“This event will provide many opportunities for participants, both personally and professionally, as they co-create solutions for their future,” said Renata Galle, vice president of innovation and digital business at Stefanini.
The company’s goal is to attract talent through a dynamic and interactive process, identify and foster new skills within its employees, and connect students and professionals in the local market with its Digital Talent Mall and job opportunities.
A voice recognition platform and a software development kit for the drone will be provided. The teams will have to code the app to interact with the drone, send commands, extract flight information from it, and display some of this flight information back into a visualization dashboard. Each participant will be evaluated and may be part of Stefanini’s Digital Projects and Talent Mall based on:
- Creativity
- Concentration
- Teamwork
- Proactivity
- Logic
- Resilience
- Technical knowledge
The teams will have at their disposal different paths to follow to achieve the goal. Those interested in participating are encouraged to register online. Details are available here.
