Five hackathons this 12 months will convey college students collectively to resolve issues and create new enterprise concepts associated to meals, digital agriculture, animal well being and healthcare and world enterprise providers.

The hackathons, run by Entrepreneurship at Cornell, are open to undergraduate and graduate college students from any area and main and happen from Friday evenings by Sunday afternoon. Three of this 12 months’s occasions are on campus and two are in New York City.

“A hackathon offers the perfect climate for the creation of innovative ideas,” mentioned Ami Stuart, hackathon director and lecturer within the Cornell Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management. “Bringing together 150 Cornell students with diverse disciplinary backgrounds, skills and interests, I’m always amazed by the different perspectives students have when they develop solutions to the challenges we present to them.”

This 12 months’s hackathon matters and dates are:

• Oct. 20-22: Food, Stocking Hall, Cornell
• Feb. 2-4: Animal well being, Schurman Hall, Cornell
• Feb. 16-18: Digital agriculture, Schurman Hall, Cornell
• March 8-10: Health and world enterprise providers, each in New York City

Registration is open for the meals hackathon. This is the primary time this subject has been tackled. Students can sign up here for the occasion, which incorporates meals, workshops, mentorship and networking.

The occasion begins with workforce formation classes on Oct. 18 and 19, giving college students the prospect to pitch their concepts and kind groups upfront of the Friday night time kick-off.

“Some students will already have an idea related to our challenges around food products, food production or food systems,” Stuart mentioned. “But other students might just want to be part of a team. These sessions give everyone a chance to hear ideas and sign on with a team that sounds interesting to them.”

Students can be handled to a honey tasting Friday night time, then begin with a workshop to assist groups dive into their tasks. Saturday is spent working with mentors and different assets to additional outline concepts after which follow pitching them. Organizers have recruited 50 mentors to be on web site.

On Sunday, college students pitch to a dwell panel of judges, with the finalists participating in a demo spherical Sunday afternoon. Prizes totaling $10,000 are given to winners after which everybody heads residence, often fairly exhausted, Stuart mentioned, however excited in regards to the expertise.

The Cornell Institute for Food Systems (CIFS) is the principle associate for the Food Hackathon and the National Honey Board is the lead sponsor, together with Dairy Management Inc., Schreiber Foods, the Tata-Cornell Institute, the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship and New York State Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture at Cornell AgriTech.

“The great thing about these events is that students are working in interdisciplinary teams,” mentioned Rajni Aneja, managing director of CIFS’s Industry Partnership Program. “So, whether you’re interested in food science or marketing or supply chain logistics or engineering or the nutritional aspects of new food products , you’ll find a challenge  that resonates with your entire team’s interests.”

Aneja mentioned there’s a easy message organizers wish to ship to college students: “If you have an idea you want to pursue, we want to help you to make it a reality.”

“This is also a chance for students to get their hands dirty in an entrepreneurial environment and test out whether they want to be an entrepreneur,” she mentioned of the multitude of Cornell assets for entrepreneurial college students. “While you’re in college, it’s a low-risk, highly-supportive environment, so it’s a good time to try out an idea.”

Keith Seiz, who works on ingredient advertising for the National Honey Board, mentioned the non-profit often focuses on working with main meals and beverage manufacturers.

“By partnering with Cornell for this Hackathon, we’ll be able to expose students getting ready to enter the food industry with information and inspiration on this amazing ingredient,” he mentioned.

One of the hackathon’s themes will focus not solely on honey as an ingredient, however on honeybees and their function in pollination, he mentioned.

“Without honeybees, we wouldn’t have avocados, almonds, blackberries, garlic and more,” he mentioned. “One theme of the hackathon will focus on developing new food or beverage products using honey using a majority of ingredients that come from honeybee pollination. It should really challenge students to think about new product development and marketing from a unique perspective.”

Other problem themes at this October’s Food Hackathon occasion will embrace creating new dairy merchandise with distinctive well being and wellness advantages, versatile meals manufacturing design, and meals waste discount.