DURHAM, N.H.— The University of New Hampshire's InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL) and Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center (ECenter) will co-host the second annual 24-hour Hack New Hampshire event starting Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. Sponsored by Liberty Mutual Insurance, Bottomline Technologies, and Arista Networks, the event will bring together students, faculty, and industry to create innovative solutions to help improve sustainability and safety in New Hampshire.

“Hackathons offer a great opportunity for students to learn more about creating solutions for real-world problems with the support of industry mentors,” said Jeff Lapak, director of UNH-IOL. “Students gain practical experience outside of the classroom that will help them thrive in future endeavors. The IOL will always support bridging the gap between industry and UNH.”

Hack New Hampshire is a fast-paced 24-hour event designed for undergraduate and graduate students from any discipline, regardless of skill level, to work in teams to create a solution that puts New Hampshire at the center. Participants collaborate with staff from each company and use public and community data to develop technology-based solutions to important challenges by creating either a working software, app solution, or idea. Participants are judged on technical innovation, creativity/uniqueness, presentation, and usefulness. Each member of the top three teams will take home cash prizes worth up to $1,200.

“It’s amazing to see the impact hackathons have on students at UNH,” said Ian Grant, executive director of the ECenter. “The students leave the hackathons after having so much fun and with their newly gained confidence, then they engage even further in the ideas, innovation, and entrepreneurship culture at UNH. Some have gone on to create their own start-ups.”

The theme aligns with UNH’s recent STARS Platinum rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), which places UNH at the highest level of sustainability performance among colleges and universities.

All students are encouraged to participate in this annual event. For more details about Hack New Hampshire, please visit the event web page or watch this video from last year’s event. For questions about participating in the hack contact Mara Bernazzani at (603) 862-0901.

Since 1988 the UNH-IOL has built a multimillion-dollar testbed and developed testing solutions to help companies efficiently and cost effectively deliver products to market. UNH-IOL’s services fit the needs of the market, while maintaining broad, comprehensive interoperability and conformance testing of networking, data, telecommunications, and storage products.