IOST Hackathon in Japan| Unlocking the Potentials of Young Talents in Blockchain & Programming
On Feb 20 and 21 2020, IOST jointly hosted a 2-day “Education x Blockchain” HIVEHack hackathon with the well-known private university Kindai in Japan, who provided the venue and incentivize professors and students to participate in the Hackathon. This event was a great success with the missions to:
- create higher awareness & understanding of blockchain and IOST among the talented young developers
- enable non-tech background students to experience programming, product development and create a prototype using a smart contract programming
- unlock the potentials of the young talents and attract the future top-tier developers and teams from the Kindai University and its partners to the IOST ecosystem.
Most hackathons are sponsored or awarded by large companies, but it is rare to involve creating prototypes (products programed by smart contracts). This time, IOST and the university professor have set and achieved this clear goal to allow students (including non-technical background students) to create prototypes using smart contracts. With the participation of 5 guest speakers, 1 local media and 19 enthusiastic students, the event was a great 2-day learning and growth journey for every participant.
The IOST foundation would like to express our gratitude towards the Kindai University and special thanks to Asst. Prof. Moriyama., the students and the guest speakers for making this educational event happen.
Since the set-up of IOST’s Japanese branch, IOST has been committed to promoting free education activities on blockchain technology in Japan while also scouting and training potential blockchain engineers. IOST’s “Blockchain Free Education Program” has been launched in 8 universities and educational institutions in Japan and provided blockchain courses to over 300 students since 2019.
DAY 1 of Hackathon
Mr. Terry Wang, CTO, IOST, Guest Speaker
IOST Co-founder Terry gave an opening speech to welcome the event participants into this 2-day growth journey. Due to the Corona Outbreak situation and restrictions, Tery could only interact with the participants via online video call. He shared his personal story from being a student at Princeton University, a Research Teaching Assistant after graduation, followed by being an Engineer in tech startups in Silicon Valley, and now started up his own company- a leading blockchain network- IOST.
Terry provided the highlights on IOST technology and its benefits for programmers such as using Javascript and the ability to update smart contracts after deploying on IOST as compared to other blockchain networks. He wished the student to learn and grow from this and the future opportunities brought to them.
Mr. Masato Shikata, Designer, Hachidori Inc, Guest Speaker
Mr. Masato Shikata launched a fashion brand at the age of 17 and started web production himself for branding. He accumulated experiences in various fields from fashion to IT and later on, joined Hachidori Inc to manage designs, engineering, customer service, marketing and strategy planning.
Tips and advice on product development procedures such as design thinking and prototype making were delivered to the students. Masato said “Product development is making things you haven’t seen yet. Sometimes it’s better to write working code quickly than writing good codes with spending a lot of time”.
Students also gained hands-on experience with basic knowledge of blockchain technology, and smart contracts lectured by IOST core community, EverSystem engineering team.
Blockchain Hackathon started. 4 teams- IOSTicket, TAS, Good Job, and Health Conscious presented with four ideas of products on the first day.
DAY 2 of Hackathon
On the first day, the students learned about the procedures for product development including the “concepts and ideas”. On the second day, they received the legal knowledge necessary to commercialize the product, and advice from experts to start a startup.
Mr. Jim Maricondo, WAVE Financial, Guest Speaker
Jim is a master’s degree holder in computer science at Stanford University. He was formerly a Japanese GM of ConsenSys and had rich experiences in demonstration experiments of blockchain technology with enterprises. Jim introduced examples of tech startups in Silicon Valley to the students.
Mr. Yui Takai, Attorney at Law — ZeLo Law Firm, Guest Speaker
ZeLo provides product development and business/crypto-asset support using blockchain technology. Takai described the privacy policy of products that utilize blockchain technology.
The time is up! Teams’ Product Presentations!
All teams were able to create prototype products using smart contracts (programs running on the blockchain). Students with no programming experience on the team managed to experience programming some of the products.
Teams and Products Details
TASM
Access (Room entry & exit management) control system. Hash the MAC address (personal device) and record connection / disconnection with the access point as entry / exit. It will be implemented in Kinki University Electronic Commerce Laboratory.IOSTicket
Coupon issue application (smartphone compatible). Create a blockchain main net account just by entering its name. Issuers (companies, event organizers, etc.) and users can check the history. Encourage the natural occurrence of the community.
Good Job!
Records the history of the corporate website (URL) privacy policy. You can add applications as bookmarks. Visualize how IT giants work with our information.Health Conscious
Records health data such as heart rate. Encourage the formation of a community where people with illness can interact openly. This team was attended by an entrepreneurer who started a genetic medicine information platform startup during studying at Kindi University.
Some students started programming from the age of 11 while students who have no programming experience, all provided positive feedback about their learning and takeaways with IOST’s 2-day Hackathon Event.
After the presentation, all participants voted for the students who thought they worked hardest using a voting system using blockchain technology created by graduate students of Moriyama Laboratory.
IOST Foundation is glad to have launched multiple successful educational programs in Japan to empower the next generation into the blockchain technology. Let’s unleash the power of blockchain, and unlock the potentials of the future talents!
Join The IOST Community!
With a mainnet that is one-year-old, IOST has swiftly risen to become a world-leading public chain renowned for its numerous government collaborations and enterprise partnerships around the world.
IOST’s Partner Program is widely praised as one of the best staking programs globally by blockchain research institutions for its attractive returns, low risk and ease of use. To learn more and participate, please visit: https://www.iostabc.com/producers
If you would like to hang out with the IOST community, we have something for everyone:
- International English Telegram Group: t.me/officialios
- IOST Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/IOStoken
- Jimmy Zhong Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimmyzhong_iost
- Slack Developer Community: https://invite.iost.io
- Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IOStoken
- Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/IOSTofficial
- Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IOST-FB-Group
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