Welcome to the 2024 Research Park Hackathon! Here are some helpful links:
This year's prompt is all about data. Bring your favorite dataset or api and get to work.
Build something impactful and creative that leverages data in a meaningful way.
Build a front-end application that consumes a static dataset or a live api. Allow users to interact with your data.
Train a chatbot specifically to your dataset. Show us what it can do.
Have a creative and unique way to display your data? Show us!
Create a predictive model that forecasts future trends.
Pitch, mockup, build, or redesign a feature for a data-focused application.
Did you find something interesting in the data? Write up a report detailing your findings. Be sure to include charts and graphs!
Anything else you can think of, so long as it is focused on data.
- Kaggle
- UC Irvine
- Google Datasets
- Spotify API
- My Spotify Data
- Open Weather API
- Hugging Face
- data.gov
- UIUC Databank
- Anywhere you want! BYOD!
- 8:30 AM: Hackathon Prompt Instructions @ EnterpriseWorks Atrium
- 9:00 AM: Hacking Begins @ various UIRP locations
- 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM: Lunch provided @ EnterpriseWorks Atrium
- 11:59 PM: Submission Deadline
- 10:00 AM: Finalists announced via email / Discord
- 12:00 PM - 12:45 PM: Finalist presentations @ EnterpriseWorks Atrium
- open to the public, no lunch provided
- 5:00 PM: Winners announced at Fire @ Five
- Register for food here
When ready, submit projects here.
1. GitHub
Each team must submit a public GitHub repository. It must contain the following:
- README.MD
- Writeup explaing the submission
- A link to your YouTube Video (see below)
- Code
- Include all code written
- Applicable documentation
- Data
- Small data files: include entire file
- Large data files: include small sample and/or link to source
2. YouTube
Each team must upload a video to YouTube.
- Serves as your "pitch" for your submission
- Video must be between 2-3 minutes in length
- Published on YouTube by submission deadline (unlisted or public)
3. Presentation (Finalists only) Teams selected as finalists (see schedule) will be required to do a live presenation to the judges' panel.
- At most 5 minutes in length
- Some things you may wish to include in your presentation
- Explanation of your product
- Description of your data
- Inspiration for your project
- You are encouraged to use all AI tools at your disposal
- For those using work laptops, be wary of your company’s policy
- Document any tools that you used in your repository’s README
- Copying code from other Hackathon teams is prohibited
- Matt Ahrens: Data Science - NVIDIA
- Bryan Goode: Talent Management - University of Illinois Research Park
- Jarai Carter, PhD: Data Science - John Deere
- Dustin Mayfield-Jones: Laboratory and Facilities Management - University of Illinois Research Park
Judges will assess submissions by the the following three pillars.
How innovative, creative, and new is your submission?
High Creativity Score: A novel idea, fresh take, or otherwise creative submission
Low Creativity Score: An exact copy of an existing solution
How well is data integrated into your submission?
High Data Score: Data is perfectly interwoven and complements your submission
How much did your team execute?
High Execution Score: A fully-functioning submission or thorough proposal
Low Execution Score: Just an idea
- 1st place*
- 2nd place*
- 3rd place*
- Notable Innovation (Creativity)
- Seamless Integration (Data)
- Skill Execution (Execution)
*reserved for finalists
- Start small, your development time is very limited
- Prioritize creativity over complexity
- Utilize every team member thoroughly
- Work with data that:
- is interesting to you
- you have previous knowledge with
- Play to your team’s strengths!
Good luck! - James Kabbes | John Deere