PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT) today announced the winners of its first-ever Philly Enterprise Hackathon: John Quillen of the Euclidean Group won the life sciences track, sponsored by Teva Pharmaceuticals, and received $50,000 in cash and $1,000 in Amazon Web Services Credits. Charlie Giammattei of team My Flow, won the infrastructure track, sponsored by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP), working with the Delaware River Water Alliance and FLOWatch. Team My Flow received $25,000 in cash and $1,000 in Amazon Web Services Credits. Both winners will incubate for three months at VentureF0rth.
The Philly Enterprise Hackathon was designed to foster collaboration between Philadelphia-area enterprise companies and the region’s burgeoning software development community. Developers were presented with real business problems facing enterprise companies and challenged to come up with a solution prototype within three weeks. Bruno Levine, CEO of FLOWatch, one of the event’s sponsors, noted that Philadelphia developers were up to the challenge, saying, “Focus, vision, and determination are the true attributes of our Philadelphia home-grown hackathoners.”
The Philly Enterprise Hackathon was a community effort put together by a group of entrepreneurs, developers, venture capitalists, and enterprise companies that all focus on the Enterprise―and who believe that Philadelphia is the natural place to build an enterprise software company. This community includes, in alphabetical order: Amazon Web Services, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Bentley Systems, Chariot Solutions, Delaware River Water Alliance, FLOWatch, First Round Capital, Morgan Lewis, PACT, NextDocs, Philly Tech Meetup, Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE), Teva Pharmaceuticals, and VentureF0rth.
“We’re thrilled with the outcome of Philadelphia’s first enterprise Hackathon,” said Dean Miller, President and CEO of PACT. “Many Hackathons encourage developers to come up with ideas without considering potential customers for the new application. We did the opposite, drawing on the large concentration of enterprise companies in the Philadelphia area to offer the development community real customers and issues in need of innovative solutions. As a result, the Hackathon helped form some great businesses relationships and, equally important, exposed Philadelphia’s development community to the many opportunities in their backyard.”
“It is important that entrepreneurs have opportunities to apply their talent and innovative thinking to solve problems and address opportunities identified by larger corporations. That produces a triple win: a win for the entrepreneur, a win for corporations, and a win for the region. The Hackathon was a great test of how to provide a platform for new ideas to quickly gain market traction,” said RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, President & CEO of Ben Franklin.
“The hackathon was fantastic. Three weeks was the perfect amount of time to tackle some tough application development challenges,” said Giammattei. “We look forward to bringing our hackathon software application to production with FLOWatch and can't wait for next year.”
“The enterprise hackathon was a tremendous opportunity to get access to senior executives who have real business needs and are looking for innovative solutions, and the competitive environment added a motivating twist,” said Quillen. “I’ve enjoyed the process and am looking forward to turning my concept into reality.”
“Teva was pleased to be an inaugural sponsor of and active participant in the Philly Enterprise Hackathon,” said Jon Congleton, Senior Vice President, Global Medicines Group at Teva Pharmaceuticals. “It supported the burgeoning entrepreneurial sector of Philadelphia while also addressing a specific business need, creating great value and a learning experience for all involved.”
About Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania
Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP) is celebrating its 30th year of helping our region’s talented entrepreneurs bring their Dreams to Reality. Ben Franklin is a national, award winning organization for Stimulating Entrepreneurial Potential, through entrepreneurship, technology and innovation. Ben Franklin grows technology companies and partnerships through Capital, Knowledge and Networks that help innovative enterprises compete in the global marketplace, generating wealth and supporting regional economic growth. www.sep.benfranklin.org
About Teva Pharmaceuticals
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is a leading global pharmaceutical company, committed to increasing access to high-quality healthcare by developing, producing and marketing affordable generic drugs as well as innovative and specialty pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Headquartered in Israel, Teva is the world’s leading generic drug maker, with a global product portfolio of more than 1,000 molecules and a direct presence in about 60 countries. Teva’s branded businesses focus on CNS, oncology, pain, respiratory and women’s health therapeutic areas as well as biologics. Teva currently employs approximately 46,000 people around the world and reached $20.3 billion in net revenues in 2012. www.tevapharm.com
About Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT)
PACT is a premier resource for emerging growth companies in technology, healthcare, and energy technology industries. PACT connects emerging growth companies, venture investors, professional advisors, universities and technology-focused corporations to network, develop relationships, pursue business opportunities, and market and promote their businesses to foster growth and innovation. PACT creates a strategic hub for the region’s emerging growth companies, manifesting in a competitive edge for the Greater Philadelphia region. PACT is an Affiliate of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce (GPCC). www.philadelphiapact.com
