Draft:Hack the North



Hack the North is an annual student-led hackathon held at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. As the largest Canadian hackathon by number of attendees, Hack the North brings together over 1,000 hackers from dozens of countries for 36 hours of hacking and skill development.

2014
Founded by University of Waterloo students, the first iteration of Hack the North took place in 2014 at the University of Waterloo and brought together over 1000 hackers.

The inaugural event’s keynote speakers featured University of Waterloo alumnus and entrepreneur Chamath Palihapitiya, entrepreneur and author Jason Calacanis, and then-President of Y Combinator Sam Altman. Altman later praised Hack the North as one of the top hackathons he had been to, adding that “Waterloo is probably the best up-and-coming startup city in the world.”

2015
Hack the North's 2015 opening keynote featured videos from Sal Khan (founder of Khan Academy), Alexis Ohanian (founder of Reddit), and Chris Hadfield (retired Canadian astronaut). Startup incubator Y Combinator also returned to present a panel titled Doing Things That Don’t Scale. The event received applicants from over 50 countries and 100 schools.

2016
Hack the North’s 2016 keynote was presented by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems—the company behind Java.

2017
Surprise guest Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau headlined Hack the North 2017, followed by guest speakers Balaji Srinivasan (CEO of 21.co acquired by Coinbase), and Mike Gibson (a lead investor with the San Francisco-based 1517 Fund).

2018
University of Waterloo alumnus Chamath Palihapitiya returned as a keynote speaker for Hack the North’s 5th anniversary. In a live demonstration during the event weekend, Canadian Special Operations Forces Command personnel fast-roped from a helicopter next to the event venue.

2019
Jack Dorsey, co-founder and then-CEO of Twitter and Square, presented the 2019 keynote address. This iteration of Hack the North featured an expanded scope and invitations to more than 1,500 hackers.

2020++
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event transitioned to a fully virtual format and doubled attendance to 3,000 hackers. Chamath Palihapitiya and Vinod Khosla returned as keynote speakers.

2021
The first hybrid Hack the North took place in 2021, with portions of the event hosted both online and in-person. The keynote address featured CEO of Y Combinator Garry Tan and tech entrepreneur Suhail Doshi.

2022
In 2022, Hack the North returned to a fully in-person format with over 1000 hackers. Musician, entrepreneur, and tech founder will.i.am presented the keynote.

2023
For Hack the North’s 10th anniversary, the organization’s key founders— Kevin Lau, Liam Horne, and Kartik Talwar— served as speakers. The event invited over 1100 hackers.



Format
Since its inception, Hack the North participants have cumulatively published hundreds of projects: hacks may address any issue or theme that the hackers choose. Winning projects are not ranked, but rather given the title of “Hack the North Finalist” to encourage exploration and experimentation with ideas.