Major events in the city of Porto mirror communities of creativity and technology

September in Porto is the month to devote oneself to computer science.

Last weekend, two marathons with different goals attracted more than 130 participants and led to technological communities engaging on creating technology solutions to overcome value-chain gaps and improve technological markets.

This is a clear sign of the city buoyancy as a hub for creativity and technology.

At Palácio dos Correios, the three-day hackathon "Make or Break" resulted in 15 new technology projects. Concurrently, the Edifício Transparente was playing host to the Invictus Game Jam. Both events were sponsored by ScaleUp Porto, the municipal strategy for an ecosystem in the city.

The "Make or Break", previously named Porto Summer of Code, gathered around 120 creatives, hackers, designers, programmers, gamers and technology lovers at large. Between 8 and 10 September, participants have developed projects in three categories: Useful: things you could see yourself (or others) using; Funny: things that are entertaining, or generally make people laugh; or Hardcore: things of enviable technical prowess.

All 15 finalist projects, developed in an open-source environment, share originality and technical knowledge as common features. To get to know more about these projects, you can go to ScaleUp Porto. Whilst the competition was ongoing, there were also workshops.

Noteworthy, the "Make or Break" was one of the first events sponsored under the ScaleUp Open Call, which has allowed supporting entrepreneurs' initiatives from Porto by some 70 thousand Euros.

Game Jams: from the Edifício Transparente to the Museum

The biggest Game jam in the country was taking place by the sea. A total of 130 participants immersed in 40 consecutive hours of creative programming to design for a videogames.

The Invictus Game Jam, organised by FMQ, producer based in Porto, kicked off Friday and spanned till Sunday. The statement "lucky shot" set the moto for gamers to show their prowess in terms of creativity and technical ability.

The event concluded with videogames evaluation and prize presentation.