get involved
For organizations
Bring a real-world challenge to a hackathon as a Problem Provider and guide a team toward a working solution.
Who this is for
Nonprofits, clinics, research groups, and companies with a concrete challenge and someone who can answer questions during the build.
What you would do
Scope one challenge with us, brief the teams at kickoff, answer questions through the build, and see working prototypes at final pitches.
Time commitment
About 4 hours across the event: a briefing, two check-ins, and pitch day. Scoping happens by email beforehand.
Cost
Free to bring a problem to natIgnite and natHacks
What makes a good problem
Real and current
Something your team is actually blocked on, not a hypothetical exercise.
Weekend-sized
Narrow enough that a team of 4 can show something working in 40 to 64 hours.
Someone to ask
One person reachable during the event. Teams stall without a decision-maker.
Context to share
Sample data, a workflow walkthrough, or users teams can talk to.
What makes a good problem
step1: 4 weeks out
Scope
We write the brief together and agree on what a good outcome looks like.
step 2: kick off
Match
Teams pick your challenge and you brief them live.
Step 3: event
Build
Mentors support the team. You answer questions at two scheduled check-ins.
step 4: aftercare
Handover
You keep the prototype and code. We introduce you to teams who want to continue.
Testimonials
Hear from our community
I had a competent team working on our project and we ended up hiring one of the students for a summer internship to further develop the project.
Problem Provider
Problem Provider
The experience was amazing and I got all I wanted from it. Thank you for the opportunities not only to learn from typically inaccessible hardware but for the sponsors and providing possible career choices.
Participant
Participant
Overall, it was a great event. The idea of an educational sprint was awesome, lots of accessible resources, organizers were always willing to help, great speakers, and more.
Participant
Participant
natHacks has given me knowledge, friends, confidence in my work, academic opportunities, deeper passion for BCI technologies, and irreplaceable experience.
Participant
Participant
I have never participated in a hackathon before, but it seemed like a great way to apply scientific theory to a real world problem. I joined because I wanted to see more practical applications of neurotech, which ended up being amazing! It was also an opportunity for me, as a science student, to learn more about website development, coding, Unity, and more.
Participant
Participant
I wanted to develop my career and resume and learn a new skill. My passion lies in building and fixing things and that's exactly what I got. Thank you.
Participant
Participant
It was a great learning opportunity for me and I had a great, supportive team who could make it happen!
Participant
Participant
It was great! I learned new stuff, met a great team, and socialized in some sessions during the educational sprint.
Participant
Participant
I had a really great time creating something cool with my teammates. The choice of food was good and the hackathon was well run.
Participant
Participant
The hacking was fun, and I'm grateful for the chance to work with such cool hardware.
Participant
Participant
It was an amazing experience. There was a great amount of workshops, the venue was really accessible, participants were well fed, and the coffee table was such a cool idea! So overall really great event.
Participant
Participant
The whole event was very fun and interesting! I really appreciated how open the volunteers were and how helpful all the guests and staff were.
Participant
Participant
All the volunteers and mentors were extremely supportive and the overall environment was great.
Participant
Participant
There were many mentors and workshops, a lot of learning, and a lot of socializing. The participants were friendly and the event itself was fun.
Participant
Participant
You are very cool to do such things! It is very inspiring. I hope that this area will develop even more in the future, and you will be part of it!
Participant
Participant