Data & Design Hackathon: Empower Young Female Entrepreneurs

Interested in building real-world skills in data science, design thinking, and business strategy while working with a cross-functional team to solve a problem for a local non-profit? 

Casecomps is hosting a full day, immersive hackathon to teach holistic, real-life problem-solving skills through hands-on experience. This event is in partnership with Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), ML @ IIT, and Female Strong. Lunch and refreshments throughout the day will be provided.

About the Organizers: Casecomps is a local Chicago startup focused on connecting professionals to employers through fun, creative challenges. ML @ IIT is IIT’s premier student organization for machine learning. Female Strong is a 501c3 which was created to be the catalyst for aspiring female business leaders to realize their professional dreams through education, mentorship, scholarships and investment. 

What You’ll Do: Work as a data scientist, service designer, or business strategist with a team of 4 to 5 passionate individuals to help Female Strong attract young women to their YEA! (Young Entrepreneurs Academy) program. Teams will have access to the below tools as they crack the case:

• A business case outlining the real challenges Female Strong and YEA! are facing.
• An interview with Jody LaVoie, executive director of Female Strong
• Curated quantitative data.
• An exclusive design thinking workshop to facilitate ideation.
• Personal mentorship from Accenture consultant Michael Kokot and Wavicle Data Solutions design strategist Niharika Gupta to help guide your team and offer feedback on ideas
• Feedback from representatives from Ernst and Young. 
  

Who Should Join: This competition is geared towards individuals interested in exploring what it would be like to play a data science, designer, or business strategist role in a real business setting, or building their skills in their respective fields. Both employed and job searching professionals, as well and undergraduate and graduate students, are eligible to participate. 

How to Register: Register via this Eventbrite by EOD Friday, November 8th to participate. Participants can register as a team or be placed on a team the day of the event.

Schedule of Events: The agenda for the day can be found below:

• 11am to 11:30am: Competition check-in and networking
• 11:30am to noon: Challenge release and team assignments
• Noon to 1pm: Lunch with teams
• 1pm to 3pm: Design thinking session to facilitate ideation AND intro to data science APIs in parallel. Individuals can choose which to do based on their interests and skillsets.
• 3pm to 5pm: Building out solutions
• 5pm to 6pm: Presentations and awards 

Prizes: To expand team members’ network and knowledge of the Chicago startup ecosystem, winning teams will be invited to tour mHub or 1871 with the founder of Casecomps.