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BattleBorn, a name inspired by the Nevada state flag, was created by the gold mining company to infuse the resource industry with bold ideas and exponential technologies. BattleBorn includes a series of boot camps, a 54-hour hackathon, and a startup exchange, that will bring together competitors, observers, industry leaders, and startups.
Michael Brown, president of Barrick USA, said: “Barrick is excited to host the state’s first global mining hackathon in Las Vegas. We are at the forefront of transforming traditional mining with digital technologies, and we look forward to bringing our technology partners to Las Vegas to work with talented innovators and generate fresh ideas for our industry.”
The hackathon will be a 54-hour high-intensity programming competition for participants, over the weekend of March 9–11, to solve innovation challenges in the mining industry. A panel of judges will evaluate the potential applicability to real-world industry. Prizes, totalling US$20,000, will be awarded to the top teams. Silicon Foundry, an innovation platform with deep ties in Silicon Valley, will be offering a winning team exposure to its network and startup best practices.
Brad Bechtold, national director, mining transformation at Cisco Canada, stated: “Hackathons like BattleBorn are a key initiator of outside the box digital thinking that will drive future success in the mining industry. We are delighted to support Barrick as they transform mining.”
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Boot camps are also part of BattleBorn. On March 3, challenge descriptions will be shared during a session where participants will engage mentors in a question and answer session. On March 7, Amazon Web Services, Barrick, Cisco, Silicon Foundry and Unearthed will lead a tech on-boarding session. The workshops will provide participants with the tools and techniques they will need to succeed over the hackathon weekend.
In addition, on March 12, an exhibition-style event will be held to showcase early-stage ventures from around the world. The Startup Exchange is a platform for industry leaders to engage with these ventures and find ways to deploy their solutions.
Zane Prickett, director of Unearthed, commented: “Globally, Unearthed is driving a mission for the resources sector – to innovate the way it operates and introduce new technologies with the ability to improve current practices. The hackathon events we’ve produced with Barrick continue this mission.”
The ultimate goal of BattleBorn is to have a distinctive impact on Nevada’s growing technology and innovation community. Individuals can get involved by competing in a hackathon, exhibiting a startup, learning about developments in the resource sector or networking with industry leaders.
All events will take place from March 3–12 at Rob Roy’s Innevation Center. For more information about the BattleBorn series of events, including participant registration and ticket purchase, see here.
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