Fourteen teams accepted WorldLink’s challenge and provided fourteen unique solutions. This included everything from recommendation engines for how to distribute charitable donations, to creating a friending mechanism on Spotify based on music that users listen to. The winner of the WorldLink prize was a recommendation engine that would show how to watch movies based on a host of variables beyond simple movie genres and actors. It was obvious that the team had worked tirelessly on the effort in the two days they were together. Additionally, this team pulled together a detailed layout of their effort in creating the output.

The jury was extremely impressed by the level of maturity and innovation from participants, “we were thoroughly impressed by what these hackers were able to pull together in two days. The talent within this team ranged from 11th graders to folks with master’s in computer science. The future of technology truly does look bright, and I would not be surprised if the next Elon Musk, Anne Wojcicki or Jeff Bezos was among these 250 or so hackers”.

This event was a great opportunity for all teams to find solutions to significant business problems in today’s world that can only be addressed with collaboration and the use of technology.