The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) announced plans to hold its first-ever hackathon, the first such event that a Canadian securities regulator is hosting, which is set to take place later this month.
The hackathon, which follows the OSC’s recent establishment of its fintech innovation hub and regulatory sandbox, OSC LaunchPad, will seek solutions to emerging issues in several notable areas, including: know your client and identity authentication; financial literacy; and financial inclusion. The event is expected to produce apps that could include new personal finance tools, products for unbanked consumers and new tools to enhance financial knowledge.
“The financial services regulatory environment is becoming increasingly complex. Solutions that help streamline the regulatory environment are beneficial not only for regulators, but also for the regulated organizations and even for the economy as a whole,” the OSC’s invitation to the hackathon says. “Bring your strategists, subject matter experts, developers and UX designers together for three days of purposeful interaction, and make your mark contributing to a more efficient Canadian regulatory ecosystem.”
The apps developed during the event will be judged on several criteria including: creativity, originality, user experience and execution. The judging panel includes Maureen Jensen, chairwoman and CEO of the OSC; Joseph Lubin, founder of Consensys and Ethereum; Doug Steiner, CEO of Evree Corp.; and, Adam Felesky, president and managing partner of Portag3 Ventures GP Inc.
All of the code produced during the event, which will run over three days from Nov. 25–27 in Toronto, will remain the intellectual property of the developers. Hackers can participate as either individuals, or in teams of up to six members.
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