YGC, an Austin based Corporate Venture Studio, is launching a virtual hackathon on May 8th-10th 2020. The Hackathon will focus on recently impacted workers helping kickstart learning, ideation, and problem solving, all skills that are crucial in the post-COVID economy. The theme will be “Future of Work” across several industries that are critical infrastructure for the US economy.
“The staggering 16.8 million initial unemployment claims filed in the past two weeks is very concerning to us,” stated Henry Liu, COO of YGC. “As many businesses have implemented a hiring freeze as a response to the quarantine, many impacted workers are struggling to rebound. Providing a platform for employment seeking workers to add value to enterprise partners and learn to solve industry challenges is crucial. The skills learned through the hackathon are practical and directly contribute to our enterprise partners’ needs today. We are taking steps to get these workers back into the marketplace.”
The virtual hackathon format has recently been adapted by governments and enterprises. The Federal government of Germany organized, #WirvsVirus, the largest hackathon in the history of Germany involving more than 40,000 participants.
Other technology giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft have partnered with the World Health Organization to launch their version of global online hackathon #BuildforCOVID19.
YGC is in discussion with several Fortune 500 Companies in the energy, transportation, and healthcare sectors to source practical challenges that need to be solved for the event participants. More announcements will be made in the coming weeks leading up to the event in May.
In 2019, Gavin Gillas, CEO of YGC, converted the winning team at the Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) Hackathon into a venture that’s building a voice-enabled fleet repair tool for the 300,000 diesel technicians to help bring trucks back on the road faster. The trucking industry is vital in supplying essential foods and products during this time and is considered critical infrastructure by the Federal Government.
The #FutureOfWork hackathon theme is also consistent with YGC’s recent work in the energy sector.
Visit their websites: YGC, Hupbeat, Future of Work Hackathon.
About YGC
YGC partners with Fortune 500 leaders to build industrial-grade software applications that solve complex industry challenges. YGC is a corporate venture studio based in Austin, Texas.