Dakota State University will host the Ignite Hackathon November 13th through the 15th, bringing students, entrepreneurs and community members together to develop new ideas into working products.
The free event is being organized by DSU and Wildfire Labs at the Beacom Institute of Technology. Powered by OpenAI Academy, the hackathon will introduce participants to artificial intelligence tools that can help them build software by describing what they want it to do. No previous coding experience is required, and meals will be provided.
Organizers plan to select approximately 20 ideas for the competition, with teams of three to four participants working to develop a functional prototype over the weekend. Teams will present their projects to judges on Sunday. Projects will be evaluated on technical execution, problem-solving, market potential, impact and presentation.
The first-place team will receive one-thousand dollars, with 500 dollars for second place and 250 dollars for third. Additional awards will recognize the most innovative and most ambitious projects.
The event follows a similar hackathon held in April. Organizers plan to continue offering the competition each semester to encourage innovation, entrepreneurship and collaboration.
The November event has space for 70 to 75 participants. Priority registration for DSU community members closes October 18th, while open registration ends November 1st, or when capacity is reached.
More information, including registration and idea submissions, is available through the Ignite Hackathon event homepage. We will have a link to that at AmazingMadison.com
