Our Uncertain Future Requires Some Brave New Hacks

Calling all scientists, software engineers, policy makers, designers, and entrepreneurs: please join us for the 4th annual BERC Cleanweb Hackathon! The election results will be in and our uncertain future requires some brave new hacks. Teams are challenged to create new ideas in the energy, resources, legal, and political sectors. Food and beverages will be provided by BERC.

To be hosted at the Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS), a new amazing collaborative working space located in the beautiful Doe Library on UC Berkeley's campus. We will be at BIDS from Friday 5-9pm, and Saturday 9am-5pm. Saturday evening will be held at Blum Center B100, just a short walk north of the library.

We have room for participation from 40 UC Berkeley students or LBL staff, and 20 Bay Area participants.

What makes this hackathon different?

  • Software beyond the startup: the goal is to solve problems with ideas that might not fit into a venture capital pitch (and if they do both, all the better!)
  • People beyond the programmer: we are looking for technologists, policy experts, designers, and social scientists to join (or also be) software hackers.  

Check out the Hackathon Challenge Document! link

Idea list from team formation session link

Opening Presentation link

Schedule:  

Friday :     5pm-6pm:  Welcome and networking (food and beverages provided)

                6pm-6:30pm:  Hackathon kickoff presentation (rules, prizes, inspiration)

                6:30-7:30pm:  Ideation and team formation

                7:30-9pm:  Initial hacking until 9pm - You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here  

Saturday:  9am-5pm: Hacking (breakfast and lunch provided)

                11am-12pm: Mentor Office Hours

                6pm-9pm (Blum Center): Presentations, judging, and awards

View full rules

Eligibility

Team Size: Minimum of 2. Recommended Max of 5.

Teams larger than 5 are allowed but will incur a penalty during the judging phase. From experience, we also find that teams larger than 5 tend to struggle with productivity and organization!

Requirements

You can submit between 5pm and 5:30 pm on Saturday.

  1. A team name
  2. A team icon, image, or logo
  3. Upload the proposal onto DevPost between 5:00 - 5:30 PM on Saturday 
  4. Deliver a 4 minute pitch to judges with 2 min Q&A time

Judges

Jackie Weidman

Jackie Weidman
Clean Energy Leadership Institute

Kate Knox

Kate Knox
Advanced Microgrid Solutions

Sam Saxena

Sam Saxena
LBNL

Judging Criteria

  • Impact
    Must make a positive impact on an energy, resource, legal, or political issue. Describe your impact, and quantify potential impact, if possible.
  • Be Brave
    How original and creative is your project?
  • Technical Achievement
    How much code were you able to write in support of your project? What types of tools did you employ?
  • Follow Up Plan
    Have you thought about next steps if you were to continue this project?