Global Hackathon Sees 2000 MS Employees Participate

Over 2000 of Microsoft’s employees across seven Indian cities are joining their colleagues across the world for the company’s first global //oneweek hackathon this week. These employees are working on more than 650 ideas that can help and impact a large cross-section of audiences --  developers, enterprises, consumers, governments, not-for-profits, partners, educators, as well as Microsoft’s own internal processes. 

The hackathon is part of Microsoft //oneweek, a week dedicated to employees in the 114 countries where Microsoft operates. An internal challenge, the //oneweek hackathon is being organized this week to usher in the new growth hacking culture at Microsoft. It aims to encourage and inspire people to start thinking like challengers, learn to continuously adapt and put customers ahead of everything they do.

Speaking about the India leg of the hackathon, Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India, said “We want to encourage our employees to work outside their usual boundaries and create, imagine and adapt something new that has a purpose. During this week’s hackathon, many of our creative minds are collaborating across geographies and working on ideas and solutions that address business and societal issues. They are using Microsoft technology to suggest solutions that can help people and processes.”

Rohit Thakur, Head of Human Resources at Microsoft India said, “Satya Nadella, our CEO, has challenged us to think differently. The enthusiasm of our employees participating in this hackathon reflect their desire to embrace change and drive positive impact both within and outside the company. We are thrilled to see the huge participation from our employees in India in the //oneweek hackathon.”

The winning hackathon ideas from India will compete with other winners from across the world via online voting in the first week of August. The top five ideas will be evaluate by a jury who will then declare the global winners.