OCAF was pleased to be title sponsor at the second annual hackathon hosted by the Kanata North Business Association. OCAF posed the challenge question: How can Kanata North Tech Park become a leading Clean Energy Resilience District?
The winning teams pitched a modular microgrid and battery storage system, an AI-powered platform for sharing district heat, and a smart meter analytics tool. Over the two weeks of the hackathon, student teams from all of Ottawa’s post-secondary institutions as well as the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board tackled the pressing challenge of decarbonizing the Kanata North Tech Park, Canada’s largest.
In the closing session, a shortlist of five top teams presented their solutions in a fast-paced, five-minute pitch format. Their unique perspectives showcased a diversity of approaches to the scale and complexity of emissions in the Park.
Solutions ranged from solar and battery storage systems to thermal loops and thermal batteries, with some teams proposing solar installations on every available surface. Others built on existing deployments in the Park—such as Nokia’s battery systems and Cisco’s cold storage unit—demonstrating a keen awareness of local context and opportunities for scaling.
The winning teams were:
- 1st Place – AC/DC: Modular microgrid and battery storage model for improved reliability
- 2nd Place – Girl Power: AI-powered heat-sharing platform connecting buildings for energy efficiency
- 3rd Place – Hackawatt: Smart meter analytics dashboard for real-time carbon reduction insights
OCAF’s work in the Kanata North Tech Park is a catalyst for climate innovation in Ottawa’s economic engine, fostering collaboration to accelerate the community’s momentum toward a net-zero future.