Local tech companies honoured at “nerdy” event

The second annual WEtech awards were held Nov. 29 at St. Clair College.

The evening consisted of the Nerd Olympics and the Tech Awards, normally separate events but combined this year.

The Tech Awards, “powered” by Ontario Centres of Excellence, is a way of recognizing technology innovators of all stages.

Jean-Marc Vachon, director of programs and marketing at WEtech Alliance, said this event also allows people in the local industry to meet and get to know each other.

“(There are) 16 different tech companies in a team and they compete in six different events over a three-month period. Tonight, is going to be sixth and the final event, the rock band competition,” said Vachon on the night of the awards.

For the first time, St. Clair College and the University of Windsor participated along with the IT department from the city of Windsor.

Some participants said it was a great opportunity to know their colleagues and their talents better.

“Well, this is our second year participating in the Nerd Olympics. We had a great experience and had a lot of fun last year … to do something that you are not accustomed to doing,” said Marc Vesque, director of marketing from Satellite Windsor, in reference to the rock event.

In the annual Nerd Olympics’ rock band challenge, the 16 competing tech companies chose one song from a list of nearly 400 tracks to perform LIVE on stage. Teams were judged on degree of difficulty, overall score and stage presence.