Hudson Valley Tech Festival and Hackathon

happened OCTOBER 11-12, 2019

Thank you, one and all, for a fantastic inaugural HV Tech Fest Conference & Hackathon! Your attendance was an undeniable confirmation of the growing tech ecosystem in the Hudson Valley and beyond. It was great to see so many new connections made, and so many existing connections invigorated, throughout the region and across New York State. We are happy and honored that we were able to provide a positive environment for people to learn and discover new opportunities for growth using technology.

The Conference . . .    Download the full PDF program booklet here

It was tremendously rewarding and inspiring to see so many gathered together on Friday, October 11th for the Conference portion of the Festival, to explore and rethink our tech education, tech workforce development and trends in hiring the lean startup way. The programming committee invested countless hours engaging and curating speakers one by one to reflect the industry trends, both global and local.  We are so proud of the 40+ speakers and 150+ attendees who participated in the Conference. Thank you all for your hunger and curiosity to learn from each other through the Conference tracks and sessions.

The Hackathon... 

Thank you for joining our first ever Hudson Valley Youth Hackathon on Saturday, October 12th. It was exciting to see 100+ professionals working side by side with youth, and competing equally. We appreciate our partner, AT&T, who lobbied with vigor to have kids involved more than we initially envisioned – it was amazingly inspirational and a learning experience for all! We discovered that our high schoolers are way more tech savvy than previous generations. They are thoughtful, engaged and collaborative, responsible and capable. The startup bug bit them at the Hackathon – we can expect more tech entrepreneurs coming… Let’s cultivate this spirit!

The Hackathon revealed how the youth are driven to solve Hudson Valley employability & professional sustainability challenges. We were excited to see that we are all aligned in our dream of making the Hudson Valley a better place to live and work, and leveraging technology as a practical tool for this rising tide!

The Festival as a whole . . . 

This was the first of many Festivals we plan to have in the future. It was the largest ever gathering of the HV Tech ecosystem with over 250 participants and 120 Hackathoners in attendance. It was fantastic to see all of us HV Techies connecting and collaborating throughout these two days. Based on real-time feedback throughout the event, I think it is fair to say that we achieved our three primary objectives:

• Bring the entire HV Tech ecosystem together to connect and collaborate, hire and find jobs, and create new partnerships and engagements. We trust you all have a long list of follow-ups to conduct!
• Increase energy and excitement about the HV Tech ecosystem
• Establish HVTechFest as a signature annual event for the ecosystem

OpenHub Project's premier Tech Festival (DevFest) bringing NY metropolitan area developers together to explore technology topics in a Tech Conference forum and solve Hudson Valley community challenges in a Hackathon forum using Civic Tech, EdTech and Open Data.