Event Hashtags:Â Â Â #time2trade #letsmovethings #uscanadahackathon #womenintech
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For the 1st time ever, the Department of Homeland Security, State Department, the US Chamber of Commerce, Dickinson-Wright and Northof41.org have come together with the Tech Community in Chicago in order to develop APIs which will allow entrepreneurs to develop software solutions in order to simplify the importing/exporting process.  This is a friendly competition against the hackathon teams in Toronto to see which city can create the most unique projects.  We have also assembled a top notch list of corporate partners with Amazon, Salesforce.com, IBM, Microsoft in order to have the most cutting edge platforms for teams to utilize as part of their project submissions over the entire weekend.
Canada and the U.S. have pursued significant initiatives that promote exports and cross-border investment, as well as negotiated trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and most recently in the news the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) to open new markets. These efforts have resulted in more companies than ever engaged in cross-border trade. However, these increased volumes of trade require enhanced electronic platforms to serve all cross-border companies – that is, from large multi-nationals to small-and medium-sized entities.    Â
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Your task for this challenge will require you to build an App (Mobile or Web-based) that will incorporate APIs to submit import/export information to the Department of Homeland Security while at the same time incorporate this information into another  3rd party program such as Amazon, Salesforce.com, Microsoft Bizspark or IBM's Bluemix PlatformÂ
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Winning teams will be awarded cash and prizes totalling over $15,000
  
            
           
  
    
     
      
   
         
     
  
    
 
Prizes will be awarded to the winning teams and participants. The criteria for winning the prizes will be explained in detail before the competition begins. The prizes will be a combination of cash money and in kind prizes. There will be multiple prizes which allows more than the winning team to be recognized for their efforts.
Have you taken the proper steps to ensure your idea is original? Would future customers support and reinforce your assumptions? Think of Customer Validation as ‘evidence’ to back up the core structure of your ‘theory’ (your Business Model).
The more unique your concept, the more your app will be downloaded.
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1)     All teams are required to sign the team sheet. Suggested team size is 4-5 people max. No additional names shall be added after Friday, February 26, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. EST (Exceptions will be allowed only in extreme cases and at the discretion of the Competition Directors).Â
 2)     Teams, with all team members, must be present at the venue at least once on Saturday, February 27, 2016. Failure to appear shall result in disqualification. Winning teams must be present at the venue for all proceedings on Sunday, February 28.
 3)     Final projects/presentations must be submitted by 10am EST/9am CST on Sunday, February 28, 2016. The submission must include a description and screenshots. All teams shall submit as a PDF and a PPT Deck to musson@dynamitenetwork.com and pat@techconnex.ca .  In the subject line, note the city that you submitting from and the team name
 4)   On Sunday, February 28, 2016 you must be at the venue for 11am CST/ 12pm EST in order to set up for the judging.
 5)     Judges will visit each team (Science Fair – Style). Teams will present & demonstrate their projects to the judges only.
 6)     Judges will select 3 finalists. Those 3 finalists will present to the entire group.
 7)     There will be 3 teams in each city presenting.
 8)     There will be a 1st, 2nd & 3rd place combined winner, selected from the 6 finalists
PRIZE CONDITIONS:
 All Prize details will be determined by The Sponsor in its sole discretion. The Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a similar prize (or prize element) of comparable or greater value. All taxes and other expenses, costs, or fees associated with the acceptance and/or use of any Prize are the sole responsibility of winners. Prizes cannot be transferred or substituted by winner. If a Prize is unclaimed within a reasonable time after notification from The Sponsor, as determined by The Sponsor in its sole discretion, it will be forfeited, and time permitting, an alternate winner may be selected from the remaining eligible Entries at The Sponsor’s sole discretion.
 DISQUALIFICATIONS:
 Your team’s Submission may be disqualified if the Sponsor has reason to believe, in the Sponsor’s sole discretion, that your Submission (a) contains any element that is malicious, corrupt, damaged, incomplete, inappropriate, or offensive; (b) violates the terms of use of any social media service, website, mobile application or any other platform used in connection with your Submission; (c) infringes any third party intellectual property rights; (d) violates any applicable law or (e) violates or does not comply with any section of this Participation Agreement.
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You and/or your entire team may be disqualified for any of the following actions, with or without warning, in The Sponsor’s sole discretion: (i) verbal abuse of another participant or Hackathon staff; (ii) inappropriate touching or harming of another participant or Hackathon staff; (iii) breach of the Hackathon Participant Agreement or any other agreement entered into in connection with the Hackathon; (iv) violation of or non-compliance with any section of this Participation Agreement or (v) violating the spirit of the Hackathon. If The Sponsor has reason to believe that you or your team has compromised the integrity or the legitimate operation of this Hackathon, or has attempted to compromise the integrity or the legitimate operation of this Hackathon, including, without limitation, by cheating, hacking, creating a malicious bot or other automated program, or by committing fraud in any way, your If during the Hackathon, any Hackathon staff has reason to believe that your health is in danger, you may be required to discontinue your participation in the Hackathon and asked to seek immediate medical assistance. Your teammates, if any, may continue participating in the Hackathon if they so choose.
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All disqualification decisions are final and not subject to appeal.
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The App that each team will be designing will focus on "streamlining the export process between US and Canada" for small to medium sized businesses. Â APIs will be developed using data points provided by the Department of Homeland Security. Â Â These data points will allow APIs to be created in order for new application to be created to streamline the processing of imports and exports.