How often do students get the chance to shape a project that could help the City of Ottawa achieve its climate goals?
That’s the focus of Discover Technata Hacks 2025, Kanata North Business Association’s student hackathon, an annual event where student teams tackle real-world problems and think through how technology can help solve them.
As title sponsor of the hackathon, OCAF gets to define the competition by developing the challenge question: How can Kanata North Tech Park become a leading Clean Energy Resilience District?
The students must work collaboratively to reimagine how the park can pivot to rely on integrated, low-carbon energy solutions to keep costs down, meet the city’s net zero commitments, boost power reliability, and keep pace with future demand.
The Hackathon in Action
The event launched October 1, with over 50 students from Algonquin College, Carleton University, the University of Ottawa, and Grade 12 students from the Ottawa Carleton District School Board taking part in the SWIFT program. Working in teams, they’re diving into one of three future energy systems that can help meet the growing energy needs of the Tech Park:
- Renewable energy and storage
- District energy and thermal storage
- Energy efficiency, electrification and heat pumps.
Each team will explore not only the technologies, but also the funding, financing, regulations and business models that could bring their innovations to life.
Nation-Building Projects in Our Community
For Kanata North – the largest tech park in Canada and a cornerstone of Ottawa’s economy – this is about turning a tech hub into a clean energy business model for the rest of the country to follow.
Governments are looking for nation-building projects, and we want to demonstrate that these can be local, clean and economically prosperous. Organizations and companies across Ottawa are already exploring the district energy concept, and this hackathon lets students add their bold ideas at exactly the right moment.
What’s Next?
The hackathon included a mentoring session on October 8, followed by live pitches, judging and awards on October 15. By then we’ll see how students can transform Ottawa’s economic crown jewel, Kanata North, to become emerald green.