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Australia’s 1st Sex Tech Hackathon Seeks Women-identified Participants

March 6, 2018

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The weekend-long Sydney event aims to disrupt the male-dominated industry.

Following a successful sex tech hackathon in New York City last year, Bryony Cole of the Future of Sex Podcast is now bringing one to her native Australia.

The weekend-long event will take place in Sydney from March 23 to March 25 at Academy Xi in the central business district. Participants will form teams to develop sex tech projects while receiving mentorship from industry leaders.

On the final day, teams will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges similar to in the show Shark Tank (or Dragon’s Den for you UK folks and Canadians). Prizes will be awarded to the top three teams. Tickets cost A$65 and can be purchased here.

While the hackathon is open to everyone, organizers aim to attract 75% women-identifying participants. According to the event page:

“We believe that women-identified technologies and thinkers can influence the direction of this market, while also changing the cultural conversation and attitudes toward female sexuality. This event is designed to be open to all, but our ambition is for women’s voices to be contributing elements to all projects arising from our event.”

International mentors and speakers will include FutureofSex.net publisher and renowned futurist Ross Dawson (Australia), Polly Rodriguez of Unbound (US), Victoria Cullen who created the world’s first sex toy design course at RMIT University (Australia), Maeva Botrel of Sextech lab (France), Mal Harrison of the Center for Erotic Intelligence (US), and Aurelie Salvaire of Shiftbalance (France).

For more information and to buy tickets, visit the Eventbrite page here.

Image sources: SexTech Hackathon

Jenna Owsianik

Jenna Owsianik is a Canadian journalist and sex tech expert. Since 2014 she has been Editor-in-Chief of FutureofSex.net, the world’s leading publication on how technology is changing human sexuality, today and tomorrow.

Jenna is the primary author of the Future of Sex Report (2016).

Her expertise covers state-of-the-art sex technologies and the major fields driving innovations in intimacy: robotics, virtual reality, remote sex (teledildonics), immersive adult entertainment, human augmentation, virtual sex, and sexual health.

A trained journalist with a Masters of Journalism from The University of British Columbia, Jenna’s reporting has appeared on Futurism.com, Al Jazeera English, CTV British Columbia online, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS 60 Minutes, Global News, and CKNW Radio in Canada and the United States.

As a sex tech industry consultant, she is especially passionate about helping companies deliver accessible services and products to people with disabilities and other underserved communities.

Jenna also runs the sites SexforEveryBody.com, a sex-positive, body-positive online magazine that promotes inclusive sex education; and DisabledSexGuide.com, an adult resource on sex, disability, and erotica.

In 2013, Jenna won two Canadian Online Publishing Awards for her work on The Pain Project, a multimedia site on global access to palliative care.

She won second place at the 2011 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism’s Public Health category for her participation in the documentary Freedom From Pain.

Jenna has an Honors BA in Women’s Studies and Feminist Research as well as a French minor from The University of Western Ontario. She spent a year studying at L’Université Lumière Lyon 2 in Lyon, France.