Over the weekend, whilst many students were cramming for their Chinese unit tests, finishing off their math homework, sleeping in until noon, or exploring the city of Shanghai, something else was happening inside the walls of NYU Shanghai. From Nov. 15 to 16, over 250 students from universities all over China were participating in hack(上海) - China’s largest college Hackathon. Held at NYU Shanghai, HackShanghai was a 24-hour programming competition, in which teams of four or less had to build and demo a technology product, all within the specified time limit. In addition to this, the teams were competing for prizes worth 100,000 RMB in total - including acceptance to HackNTU (Taiwan’s largest Hackathon). HackShanghai brought together ‘makers’ and ‘hackers’ and exhibited the creativity and skills of participating college students. Students had to utilize these skills through either physical, technological innovations, such as 3D printing or laser cutting, or through software-based inventions, such as a phone app. The winner of this year’s HackShanghai was a team of four (from China Science and Technology University, Beijing Telecommunications University, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology) entitled LeapKitchen, who together utilized LeapMotion’s motion controller and sensor to create an app to teach people how to cook. From NYU Shanghai, team Fingers Control World made it to the top ten, being the only NYUSH team to do so. The team developed a way in which gestures acted as a remote control for different devices. Organized solely by NYU Shanghai students, the event was NYU Shanghai’s first attempt at opening the Hackathon up to other Chinese and international universities. Last year, 40 NYU Shanghai students participated in an NYUSH Hackathon of a similar nature. However, director Kenny Song stated that the Hack Shanghai team “wanted something bigger for next year. We started planning in June [of this year], over the summer … and met when school started.” Once the school year began, the team had to get approval from NYU Shanghai and encourage students to participate. However, the most crucial aspect of the planning and organization was to find local and international sponsors, to help fund the event itself. Transportation, admittance to the event itself and food were all free for students and universities, thanks to the support from sponsors such as ICBC, Morgan Stanley, UnionPay, LeapMotion, Wolfram, Ford, Intel and many more. Prizes were also funded by the Hackathon’s sponsors, the top prize including four iPad minis, four Apple TVs, four Pebble Smartwatches and one Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Power Edition. With Hackathons being largely popular amongst American universities, the HackShanghai team searched for companies and organizations that had sponsored Hackathons in the past. “We also brainstormed companies in China that would be interested in sponsoring this event," stated Song. Over the past ten years, college hackathons have become increasingly popular at universities around the world. In creating China’s largest college Hackathon, NYUSH has made a name for itself in the world of computer engineering and college hackathons. NYU Shanghai also worked with over 20 other universities to promote HackShanghai and encourage teams to apply. In doing this, NYU Shanghai has not only promoted itself as having a strong interest in the field of computer programming, but has also strengthened its relationships with other universities around the world. This Hackathon is certainly not going to be NYU Shanghai’s last. If anything, HackShanghai will grow and expand throughout China and hopefully involve more students and universities in the future. In Song’s words, hackathons are not only a great way to develop skills, but it also creates a sense of community: “The first Hackathon I went to changed my life. It got me interested in computer science and technology, and I met a lot of cool people there. I think it’s an incredible opportunity for students to connect, and we wanted to create that opportunity here.” This article was written by Isabella Farr. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Kadallah Burrowes