HackerNest

HackerNest is a federally incorporated Canadian not-for-profit organization and global movement founded on January 11, 2011. The organization unites local technology communities around the world through community events and socially beneficial hackathons to further its mission of economic development through technological proliferation. It is the largest, most prolific technology community in Canada with growing international popularity.

Background

HackerNest was founded on the belief that the best way to improve the world is to build supportive local technology communities characterized by honesty, trust, sharing, and respect - everywhere. The rationale is that a city's technology community is the cornerstone of economic development that enables collaboration, innovation, mentorship, knowledge-sharing, recruiting, and scientific progress. Growing and strengthening the community helps businesses hire better, make more money, and create more jobs, ultimately putting more food on the table.

The organization's ideology is deeply rooted in chaos theory, the idea that minor differences at the start of a process in a dynamic system can have major, unexpected impacts on end results. Similar to how the seemingly-insignificant act of handing a child a pencil culminated in the artistic legacy of Pablo Picasso decades later, HackerNest reasons that making a new friend at a Tech Social could result in a partnership that one day cures cancer. With that in mind, HackerNest "splinter cells" (chapters) regularly host social gatherings open to anyone interested in technology called "Tech Socials". The events vary by city, but maintain the same core tenets: all are nonpartisan, unpretentious, anti-elitist, and pitch-free.

The first Tech Social was held in Toronto on Monday, January 31, 2011. HackerNest Toronto is currently the world's largest Meetup group for programmers and Canada's largest technology meetup (both in terms of group membership and number of attendees at events).

As of May 2016, HackerNest splinter cells have run over 300+ events in 28 cities across 14 countries on 5 continents.

Activities

HackerNest generates revenue to fuel its nonprofit mission by offering hackathon production and consultation services to companies, organizations, and governments.

In 2014, HackerNest produced Construct, Canada's largest hardware hackathon and DementiaHack for the British government, the world's first hackathon dedicated to helping people with dementia and their caregivers.

In 2015, the organization produced an internal innovation hackathon for Deloitte as well as DementiaHack Toronto 2015 with Facebook as the lead sponsor and support from the UK government, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

In 2016, HackerNest produced CourtHack with the US National Center for State Courts in Salt Lake City at the Utah Supreme Court (and featured Supreme Court Justice Constandinos Himonas on its judging panel). Other hackathons in the works for 2016 include PoetryHack with Startupfest Montreal and Grindr4Equality with Grindr.

The organization is developing a community platform called "Unite" that intends to bring together a city's entire technology community by featuring regionally-specific jobs, companies, events, classes, funding sources, and more, all in one place. A pilot of the platform is currently being sponsored by the City of Toronto with an open beta slated for 2016.

HackerNest Unite was a finalist in the 2015 Canadian Global Impact Competition.

Splinter cells

HackerNest refers to its chapters in different cities as "splinter cells", most likely a tongue-in-cheek reference to the eponymous popular video game franchise. Splinter cells are independently managed by volunteers and generally produce Tech Socials monthly or bi-monthly.

North America

• Boston, USA
• Calgary, Canada
• Dallas-Fort Worth, USA
• Detroit, USA
• Edmonton, Canada
• Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada
• Las Vegas, USA
• Montréal, Canada
• New York, USA
• Ottawa, Canada
• Peterborough, Canada
• Phoenix, USA
• Seattle, USA
• Toronto, Canada
• Vancouver, Canada

Asia

• Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Hanoi, Vietnam
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Manila, Philippines
• Singapore, Singapore

South America

• Bogota, Colombia
• São Paulo, Brazil

Europe

• London, UK
• Manchester, UK
• Niš, Serbia
• Tbilisi, Georgia

Australia

• Auckland, New Zealand
• Melbourne, Australia

Affiliations

Past HackerNest sponsors include BlackBerry, Microsoft, and OANDA. Notable companies that have donated office space as venues for Tech Socials include Google (Kitchener-Waterloo), Facebook (Seattle), Microsoft (Kuala Lumpur), Techstars (New York), and Twitter (New York).

HackerNest actively participates on the City of Toronto's Innovation & Technology Advisory Committee and the Young Entrepreneur Council Advisory Body established by former Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly to help shape the city's interaction with the technology community.

HackerNest is a resident organization of the Ryerson Digital Media Zone.

Awards

The City of Toronto's former Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly recognizing HackerNest for contributions to the city's technology community.

• Tufts University presented HackerNest with the Boryana Damnyanova Award for Corporate and Social Responsibility on February 20, 2016.
• HackerNest was recognized by the City of Toronto for contributions to the technology community on July 28, 2014.
• Conversely, on September 28, 2015, HackerNest recognized Councillor Kelly with the "Nerd Champion" award for his support of the city's technology community.
• HackerNest Unite was a finalist in the 2015 Canadian Global Impact Competition.

External links

• Official website
• GOV.UK British High Commission Ottawa
• Wall Street Journal
• Betakit
• HackerNest Toronto Splinter Cell