ION celebrates ideas from over 3,500 participants in inaugural hackathon

• Tasked with developing innovative technology solutions addressing real-world problems, over 3,500 individuals participated in ‘ION<athon> 1.0’.
• 388 teams generated over 800 ideas, 141 teams entered the prototype phase, 10 pitched at the Grand Finale, and three winning teams were selected overall.
• ION is committed to mentorship, skills development, and innovation with further hackathons and active recruitment throughout 2022.

LONDON — 12 May 2022: ION, a global provider of trading, analytics, business information and risk management solutions for capital markets, commodities, and treasury management, proudly announces the winning teams and concepts in its inaugural global hackathon, ‘ION<athon> 1.0’.

Aiming to empower the next generation of technology talent to tackle real-world business and societal challenges, ION<athon> 1.0 drew more than 3,500 participants from over 180 countries. Senior ION engineers from different divisions and geographies provided a mentorship framework to turn hundreds of transformational ideas into end-to-end solutions.

ION encouraged the participating teams to challenge convention without limits in four key themes: ‘Fintech’, ‘Employee Experience’, ‘Social Service’, and ‘Open Innovation’, and evaluated the ideas based on originality, impact and scalability, prototype quality and application.

The competition successfully created an environment for like-minded tech enthusiasts to collaborate and showcase their skills. Ideas ranged from simplifying customer identity verification for banks using blockchain, to identifying ‘green corridors’ for emergency vehicles to avoid traffic.

Following a rigorous prototype phase, the finalists pitched their ideas to a judging panel comprising senior members of ION Group Development, during a virtual Grand Finale. Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to conceptualize end-to-end solutions with a user-centric approach earned the top entries the honors. Congratulations to:

• Project God’s Eye – an AI-based system to inform people who have visual impairments about their surroundings in real time, using a camera mounted on their eyeglasses.
• Project Skimmy – an NLP-based application that can skim through long academic texts and categorize important information for easier and quicker consumption.
• Project Virtual Studio – a virtual 3D model application for unfurnished homes to enhance the visualization of interiors, for example, paint colors or furniture placements and facilitate the purchase of items via linked e-commerce websites.

In addition to $6,700 in prizes, successful participants have been put forward for work opportunities at ION, to develop industry-shaping products for ION’s global customers.

Sanjay Chikara, ION’s Global Head of Talent Acquisition and Country Head in India, said, “We have been inspired by the fearless disruption, creativity, and dedication of our hackathon participants. The competition has uncovered exciting ideas and given the next generation a taste of what it is like to collaborate and learn within the ION community. This will be the first initiative of many for ION, as we continuously seek to nurture new technology talent.”

Hishaam Caramanli, ION’s Group Chief Product Officer, added, “ION<athon> is a celebration of the values important to ION namely, innovation, partnership and problem-solving. Using cutting-edge technology to transform how businesses operate is central to ION’s mission for its clients and the broader industry. We are delighted by the global response to this initiative and look forward to planning the next!”

ION<athon> 1.0 is the first in a series of ION initiatives aligned to its global commitments to encourage creative minds, nurture talent, and create employment opportunities. The next phase involves connecting successful participants with relevant career openings within ION, and planning ‘ION<athon> 2.0.

To read more about the winners of 2022’s ION<athon> 1.0, visit: https://ion-athon.hackerearth.com/.
To find out more about ION and career opportunities within the company, visit: https://iongroup.com/careers/.

About ION
ION provides mission-critical trading and workflow automation software, high-value analytics and insights, and strategic consulting to financial institutions, central banks, governments, and corporates. Our solutions and services simplify complex processes, boost efficiency, and enable better decision-making. We build long-term partnerships with our clients, helping transform their business for sustained success through continuous innovation. For more information, visit https://iongroup.com/.

For further information, contact:
ION
+1 44 20 7173 1520
[email protected]

Hawthorn Advisors
+44 20 3745 4960
[email protected]