Alas the event of the year finally arrived in Detroit. No it wasn’t the glitzy and glamorous North American International Auto Show, which I actually found to be quite impressive and brought over 803,000 attendees. I’d rather shine a light on the MHacks Hackathon. Around the same time of the Auto Show, during MLK weekend, about 1,300 crazy-smart young digital programmers from 70 schools across the country settled downtown Detroit in the Qube. Part competition, collaborative learning and party (very lightly used) hackers had the opportunity to celebrate their talents and acceptance of their ambitions.
Unfortunately some succumbed to lack of sleep and caught a quick nap or simply crashed. The hackers occupied the Qube or Chase building for a 36-hour hackathon. After 36 hours of creative juices flowing, gallons of Red Bull digested, and flexing of brain muscles the hackers impressively delivered interesting results.
The whiz kids competed for about $20,000 in prizes but I think the most priceless prize is the collaborative experience and introduction to downtown as a tech incubator. 1,300 pair of ears, eyes, and hands got to experience the vibrancy of Detroit.
Several Ivy League students and top-flight college students and grads were introduced to young start-up companies, the rapidly growing entrepreneur scene, and the revitalization of one of America’s greatest cities.
Competitors were not allowed to present projects they previously worked on and were encouraged to try to come up with unique and new ideas.
Quidditch and Red Bull-Michigandaily
A team built a functioning three-dimensional Quidditch simulator. Another created a semi-automatic nerf gun. Another team created a suitcase that harnessed the motion of its rolling wheels to charge cell phones and other devices. The winning team, made up partially of high school students, created Workflow, an iPad app that allows users to dictate and save tasks. For instance, one action might consist of “take a picture, edit the picture, and share the picture.” Users can name and save the task, creating an icon that can be moved to the iPad’s home screen so the action can be repeated in the future with one click. As mentioned, there were about $20,000 total in prizes. In addition, job opportunities were extended.
MHacks 2014 (<–Select to watch recap video here)
If you weren’t hip, Detroit is like the Wild Wild West for entrepreneurs and tech innovators. It has a rapidly growing business community where everyone is pulling each other up to succeed. In addition, Detroit is the new frontier of technology and innovative business. MHacks is somewhat reflective of what Detroit is currently experiencing part competition, collaborative learning, and celebration (the entire city does not party yet). I mention competition because the tech community is in fact competing with national tech companies outside of Michigan on an even talent scale. Michigan companies are really flexing their muscles nationally. Detroit is easily becoming the peoples champ as the comeback story has technology innovation written throughout. The tech startup community is extremely collaborative and this is helping to accelerate development at a rapid rate. Although companies aren’t necessarily competing with each other, they are often lending a helping hand with each other and the metro Detroit business community. Detroit is celebrating advances in technology as it is really bringing the city to tackling business in the 21st century. The city is starting to show that it is in fact open for business. A clear sign is the placement of the recently opened U.S. Patent office. The force behind this placement is the rapid innovation and development. The U.S. Patent Office is here to protect cutting edge ideas and support the community of innovation. Michigan is on the brink of the “Golden Era” of innovation! It was here back in Henry Ford’s Automobile and the $5 a day earnings times and I’m excited to see the turn of a new page in Detroit’s 21st century comeback story.