What happens when you combine lots of food, a little design ingenuity and a dash of Tech flair? Sign up for Food+Tech Connect’s NY-based Hack//Dining event, running June 27-29, to find out.
The hackathon, sponsored by the likes of Applegate, Google, Chipotle and Studio Industries, is engineered to bring the best brains in design, food and tech together to focus on food innovation. The weekend’s menu features a host of chefs, engineers, entrepreneurs and designers from a variety of backgrounds. Each will bring their areas of expertise to bear upon problems facing the food industry. The goal? Designing prototype open-source software and hardware to solve those issues. Innovation in the food industry can be slow and stifled, constricted by costs, so this event has the potential to turn that model upside down. By combining the dynamism (and means) of the tech sector with food, the organizers’ hope is to make innovation appealing to consumers and corporations alike.
Unlike traditional hackathons, mostly tech-centric arenas where engineers practice geeky brinkmanship to catch an entrepreneur’s eye, this is as much about substance as style. Food + Tech Connect wants to design a better future for diners everywhere. This is a topic everyone can relate to regardless of their coding credentials.
Pre-register to apply by May 16. Tickets to the event will become available May 22 once the winning applications have been decided. See here for more details on the application process itself. Judges and prizes will be announced shortly, but this event is likely to stimulate the finest foodie taste buds as much as the best minds.
During the run-up to the Hackathon organizers will be hosting a virtual debate about the influence of digital media and technology on the future of dining. Prominent thinkers and foodies will ponder ways of supporting sustainable, profitable and healthy fare in future. Each will be tasked with the question: “How can information and technology be used to hack (or re-imagine) the future of dining?”. Responses are likely to take a variety of forms ranging from visual media to prose, all posted on the Food+Tech Connect website from June 1-25.
More details on Hack//Dining NYC can be found in the newsletter and on Facebook. Follow @foodtechconnect and #hackdining for updates on Twitter. Interested in getting involved? Mail Tracy [at] foodtechconnect [dot] com for more information.
