March 2-4, 2012, marked the first annual Startup Weekend Okanagan. This was an intense 54 hour event which focused on building a web or mobile application which could form the basis of a credible business. The weekend brings together people with different skill sets – primarily software developers, graphic designers and business people – to build applications and develop a commercial case around them.

One of the event organizers, Mica Knibbs – a Graphic & Digital Media Design grad, came into the classroom to raffle off a couple tickets for the full event. The lucky winners were two of our quarter four design students, Tia Wishart and Dave Haggblad – who happened to get teamed up with one of our instructors, Jo-el van Bergen – at the event.

Final presentations went very well, and the CAT team did an amazing job presenting their concept which was developed into a working “Taste Okanagan Wine Touring” iPhone application – one of the few working concepts to be presented.  At the end, their idea was not placed in the finals, but was commended for a great presentation.

The event was sponsored by many industry heavy hitters such as: Google, Microsoft BizSpark, Amazon Web Services, Twilio Cloud Communications, Startup Labs, Open-tok, Cloud mine, Send Grid, etc, and it just goes to show what a few people can do in only three days.

“I’m absolutely blown away by the support and community response we’ve received from running Startup Weekend Okanagan. The energy, passion, enthusiasm and talent shown by the participants over the weekend was truly inspiring. People are already asking when the next event is scheduled to take place.” said Brent Lachman, Startup Weekend organizing committee member, CAT grad, and Digital Okanagan board member.

Tags: design schoolkelownaokanaganstartups