Taking place between 22 - 25 June 2021 and open to students and recent graduates at all higher education institutions. See the programme below.

Five ‘post-COVID' challenges will be announced on Day 1 for teams to select from – these will focus on:

1. Medical Supply Chains
2. Mobile Ecommerce
3. Money Transfer
4. Telemedicine
5. COVID-19 Patient Care

Hacking is where teams of 3-5 individuals come together over to creatively solve problems. Training and support workshops will run parallel to the Hackathon, providing useful skills development and insight into the challenges set.

The Hackathon will build essential skills for students in developing business and consumer solutions across Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Natural Language Processing, APIs, Cloud, Mobile, Data Analytics, Internet of Things, Robotics Process Automation and other in-demand non-tech skills such as project management, leadership, teamwork and communication. Newcomers and more experienced ‘hackers’ are welcome!

Teams are typically made up of:

• Developers
• Business Analysts
• Data Analyst/Scientists
• Application Designers/Architects
• Hackathon Mentors

Think you’ve got what it takes? Want to find out more? Register now as an individual or as part of a team (if you don’t have a team already don’t worry, at the start there will be an opportunity to join or form a new team!)

Sessions will be delivered via Zoom. Joining details will be sent to registered guests one day before each scheduled event.

The Programme

Day One - Tuesday June 22nd 2021 -Harnessing Disruptive Innovation

Pre-session starts at 2pm (Optional). 3pm - 6pm BST (10am - 1pm EST)

2.00-2.10pm - Introduction to London South Bank University Student Enterprise Services - Libby England, Senior Student Enterprise Manager

2.10-3.00pm -How to launch a start-up in Industry 4.0 - Dr Muddesar Iqbal, Senior Lecturer Mobile Computing and Industry Academia Lead

3pm – 3:10pm - Welcome to the Virtual Inter-University Innovation Challenge (Hackathon) - Dr Safia Barikzai, Associate Professor, Computer Science & Informatics & Denis Nwanshi, Group Director Business Software Solutions, Eastnets

3:10pm – 3:20pm - Inter-University Innovation Challenge (Hackathon) Themes - Denis Nwanshi

3:30pm – 4:30pm - Insights from founders, fixers and funders on what it takes to innovate and commercialise your ideas into market ready products and services. Innovation.

Hear from Start-up Founders

Kathryn Wright - Chief of Staff at Sifted

Paul Grenyer - CEO Find My Tea

Guy Stern - Legal Connections

Victor Tay - Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, MivervaAI

Moderators: Dr Muddesar Iqbal & Emma Le Blanc

4:30pm – 4:45pm - Break

4:45pm - 5.15pm - Alex Basso-Pinol

5.15pm – 5:30pm - Innovation toolkit – how to turn problems into commercial products - Dr Safia Barikzai, Associate Professor, Computer Science & Informatics

5:30pm onwards - Team formation and hackathon start

Day Two - Wednesday 23rd 2021: Industry & Academia Leadership Insights

3pm - 6pm BST(10am - 1pm EST)

3:00pm – 3:10pm - Welcome Message - Dr Safia Barikzai & Denis Nwanshi

Industry Leadership Forum: 15mins + 5mins Q&A - Moderator: Denis Nwanshi

3:10pm – 3:30pm - Innovation needs to be driven by real purpose. It’s important to be clear about what problem you are solving - Deya Innab - Chief Strategy & Product Officer, Eastnets

3:30pm – 3:50pm - Blending the right IQ, EQ, AQ skills along with the “hard skills” based on both technology capabilities and methodologies applied in the banking sector - Charlene Sebastian - Head of Client Success and Delivery Enablement, MinervaAI

3:50 – 4:10pm - Break

Industry Mini-Lectures: 15 mins + 5 mins Q&A each - Moderator: Denis Nwanshi

4:10 – 4:30pm - Quantum Computing - Terrill Frantz - Associate Professor of eBusiness and Cybersecurity; Quantum Information Science, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology

4:30 – 4:50pm - Cashless Society 101: Mobile eCommerce is Eating Retail Stores: Brian will provide case studies from Facebook Stores to Square and M-PESA on how mobile eCommerce, digital payments and contactless delivery is transforming the future of commerce - Brian Asingia - Chairman, The Pearl Dream Inc.

4:50 – 5:10pm - Careers in Project Management and Program Management - Paul Gerlich - Project Manager, TD Bank

5:10 – 5:30pm - Careers in Data Analytics - Richard Boire - President, Data Science and Machine Learning, Boire Analytics

5:30pm onwards - Hackathon Team Support

Day Three - Thursday 24th June: Spotlight on Employability

3pm - 6pm BST (10am - 1pm EST)

3:00 – 3:10pm - Welcome message by Dr Safia Barikazi and Denis Nwanshi

Industry Panel Discussion: Skills for the digital age (30 mins + 5 mins Q&A)

3:10 – 3:45pm - Need help choosing your career path? Learn about the digital transformation trends and job opportunities in areas such as Robotics Process Automation, EdTech, CRM (Salesforce), Quantum Computing, Project Management, Artificial Intelligence, and more.

Speakers

Vinnie Saini - Director, Enterprise Data Architecture & Strategic Initiatives/Chief Cloud Architect, Robotics Process Automation

Amy Fullerton - Sr. Manager, Learning & Development, PWC, EdTech

Pankaj Prasad - Technology Delivery - Salesforce Cloud, CRM, Digital, Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Terrill Frantz - Associate Professor of eBusiness and Cybersecurity; Quantum Information Science, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology

Solange Jacob - Cloud Services Manager, Onix Networking Corp, IT Project Management

Jennifer Arnold - Co-founder & CEO at MinervaAI, AI

Moderator: Denis Nwanshi

3:45 – 4:05pm - Break

4:05 – 4:50pm - Industry Fire Side Chat: FinTech & RegTech: Planning your career trajectory

Panel Members:

Pawan Singh - Director, Technology Development, Canadian Business Banking, Scotiabank

Richard Boire - President, Data Science and Machine Learning, Boire Analytics

Charlene Sebastian - Head of Client Success and Delivery Enablement, MinervaAI

Jennifer Arnold - Co-founder & CEO at MinervaAI

Victor Tay - Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, MinervaAI

Mike Nolan - Senior Consulting Partner, Wellington Consulting Group

Moderator: Denis Nwanshi

5:15 – 6pm - Hear from our successful Alumni

Panel Members:

Julian Marku

Dennean Cooper

Navdeep Dhuti

Moderator: Safia Barikzai

Day Four - Friday June 25th 2021 - Judging Panel & Prizes

3pm - 6pm BST (10am - 1pm EST)

3pm – 3:50pm - Judging panel convenes to deliberate.

Judging Panel

1. Amy Fullerton
2. Charlene Sebastian
3. Brian Asingia
4. Dr Muddesar Iqbal

Chair: Denis Nwanshi

4pm – 5:30pm - Student Teams meet judges (online)

5:30 – 5:45pm - Break

5:45pm – 6pm - Prizes awarded

To sign up for these talks, please tick yes on the selected dates on the checkout screen.

These sessions will be delivered via Zoom. Joining details will be sent to registered guests one day before each scheduled event.

The AI, Blockchain, RPA & QC tech meetup team is helping to organise the event and we welcome their participation from Toronto, New York and London.