UFV’s Computing Student Association partners with Chilliwack.Tech to host its Startup Hackathon on May 17 at 5 pm. The CSA president is sixth-year Computing Science major Josh Gourde, who’s been hard at work creating this platform for students to showcase their skills and apply what they’ve learned.

This year’s Hackathon is geared toward students in the business, technology, and user-experience fields (but anyone ages 18 and up can join). Participants have 24 hours from Friday to Saturday to create, design and present a product from scratch. This could be a video game, a robot, an AI, a type of software – anything, as long as it’s driven by technology. Registered participants can arrive individually to the event in Building A on UFV’s Chilliwack campus where they’ll be sorted into teams of three to five, or they can come as an existing team of any size.

Eight company leaders will be coaching and judging the groups. These include business owners and CEOs like Dave Leger of H2 Portable, Colin Schmidt of Zynim, and Tim McAlpine of Cowork Chilliwack. The winning team receives $1,250 toward launching their business and product, as well as one year of mentorship from XLRator, the Chilliwack Innovation Network, and the Esposito Family Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

After studying physics and mechatronics engineering, Gourde was drawn to computer science for its endless possibilities.

“With software, I’m able to be as creative as I want to be. Because the only limitation is time, right?” he says. “And yes, there’s paid software out there, but for the most part I’m able to develop whatever I want for practically free.”

At the last Hackathon, Gourde’s favourite part was seeing the finished products in the presentations.

“We had a lot of really cool stuff that was made, so it was really cool to see everybody share their ideas and what they came up with.”

The events Gourde plans are all about providing opportunities for students to develop their technical computing skills, gain experience, and build their resumé. This latest one gives participants a glimpse of what it would be like to work at a high-tech startup by going through the process of testing ideas, prototyping technology, and getting investors to buy in.

The final presentations take place on May 18 from 3 – 5 pm and are open to the public, so everyone can stop by to see which of these exciting new innovations will take home the prize.

To register as a contestant or see more information about this event, visit the Chilliwack.Tech website. To join the CSA or check out their upcoming events, find them online here.