Toronto is a promising city for digital technology. Home to Ryerson Polytechnic School and two hours away from Waterloo, where the majority of technology schools and universities are concetrated, a number of venture capital groups are watching this Canadian technology hub for new innovative technologies.
Celebrating it's 25th anniversary converging March 11th through the 20th, The SXSW Music and Media Conference offers original music, independent films and emerging technologies. Hosted in Austin Texas, the trade show is a launching pad for new and creative content and is a forum for learning through compelling conference panel discussions surrounded by thriving business activiy. This year The Maple Leaf Digital Lounge is hosting The 40 Hour Challenge, a pioneering event during the Interactive portion of the 2011 South by Southwest Conference. The event will be held on March 12th and 13th and is intended to highlight Canadian companies to the attendees of the conference, currently Canada is the only country to host a lounge at SXSW.
The 40 Hour Challenge is a competition between three teams of six. Each team is given a task for the same product and according to www.mapleleafdigitallounge.com "an example of the task might entail building an app and posting it on a website" the highest number of downloads over the weekend or highest number of clicks will determine which team wins. The 40 Hour Challenge will launch on Friday night. Saturday morning the three teams meet with the company product rep to discuss the task. It is recommended that the teams finish the task by Saturday night so they can promote their submission Saturday evening. The competition ends 10 am Sunday morning and the awards presentation will take place on at 1:30 pm. The judging panel made up of Silicon Valley executives will announce the winners, who will receive a cash prize as well as exposure before Venture Capitalists from Silicon Valley and others that are part of the Maple Leaf Digital Lounge.
With SXSW Interactive's focus on emerging technology the conference has earned a reputation of being a breeding ground for new ideas. The SXSW festival put Twitter on the map as a competitive social network gaining 40,000 users over the course of the event.
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