Entrepreneurship at Cornell is hosting more hackathons than ever before this year – on topics as broad as food, AI, health tech, digital ag, animal health and talent management. The weekend-long events allow students from diverse backgrounds to come together to develop innovative solutions to the world’s biggest challenges.

The series kicks off Oct. 25-27 with the Food Hackathon in Stocking Hall, which focuses on finding solutions that address hunger, poor nutrition, food waste and other food-related challenges. Students can find out more and register here. Last year was the inaugural food hackathon, said Rajni Aneja, managing director of the Cornell Institute for Food Systems Industry Partnership Program, which partners on the event.

“I was amazed by the diversity of the students involved, which speaks to the theme that food is universal,” she said. “You don’t need to be a food scientist to participate — all sorts of skill sets can contribute to a successful team.”

Credit: Abigail Younger

This year’s challenges focus on honey, dairy, fermentation, fiber and post-harvest food waste. Students will form teams during meetings before the weekend, then gather starting Friday at 5 p.m. for a kickoff and workshops. Teams work throughout Saturday to refine their ideas and their pitches, with the help of more than 50 faculty, staff, industry partner and alumni mentors. Sunday features demos by each team, with over $10,000 in cash and accelerator prizes awarded to winners.

“We don’t want this to be a one-off weekend where the learning process stops, so we’re also offering opportunities that encourage teams to take their ideas further, either by prototyping, entering business competitions or learning more about the industry surrounding the problem they’re trying to solve,” Aneja said about some of the additional prizes that will be awarded this year.

Elad Tako, associate professor in the Department of Food Science, and a lead faculty member for the hackathon, said he’s looking forward to seeing what student teams create.

“It’s exciting to witness the collaboration between students from different majors and to see how they integrate all of their knowledge, experience and skills to come up with really credible ideas and solution,” he said. “This experience provides an environment where students can fine-tune their ideas, discuss product type/design and teamwork abilities. From rapid prototyping to debugging, every challenge contributes to their skill development and growth.”

Tako is also an entrepreneur – his startup GR8PE by Stil-bène transforms grape pomace into a dietary supplement to improve digestive health. The company is a finalist in this year’s Grow-NY Food and Agriculture Business Competition.  

Students can register for the Food hackathon here. 

This year’s other hackathons include:

• Building Tomorrow’s Workforce: Talent 2.0, Nov. 8 - 10, New York City
• AI, Jan. 17-19, 2025, New York City
• Animal Health, Jan. 31 – Feb. 2, 2025, Cornell
• Digital Agriculture, Feb 28 - March 2, 2025, Cornell
• Health, March 14-16, 2025, New York City

Find more information about all of this year’s hackathons on the Entrepreneurship at Cornell website.