Consensus Hackathon & Accelerator

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Lawrence Ley

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Co-proposers and additional applicants

Audrey Nesbitt

Florent “Flo” Thévenin

Ismail Khalil

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

9

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

This proposal involves participating in the Consensus hackathon and the Plug and Play accelerator to showcase Cardano's technology to the world’s top developers, investors, and enterprises.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

Yes

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

This proposal is dependent on the Consensus 2025 Toronto conference occurring from May 14-16, 2025. This proposal is also dependent on Plug and Play, a world class accelerator company.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

No

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

Hackathon submissions will be either open or closed source. Potential teams may have proprietary technology which could be used as a key differentiator when trying to secure funding, investments and partnerships.

[METADATA] Horizons

Accelerator

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Cardano’s potential as a leading blockchain platform can be fully realized through high-profile conferences, hackathons, and accelerators that showcase its technology to the world’s top developers, investors, and enterprises. This proposal involves participating in the Consensus hackathon, where participants can engage in hands-on building, collaboration, and creativity. This proposal also includes onboarding up to 10 project teams to the world-class, highly successful Plug and Play accelerator program. 

The Consensus hackathon event provides more than just exposure; it offers direct access to blockchain’s brightest minds, generating practical engagement and driving the ecosystem’s growth. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of Cardano’s scalability and integration potential, solidifying its position as a go-to platform for innovation.

The top winners of the Cardano hackathon track will also participate in an established accelerator program designed to bring teams and products to market. The accelerator program includes focus weeks and deep dives, during which the teams receive strategic mentorship, pitch prep, and technical, legal, and financial reviews. Once accepted into a cohort, the planning and execution phase prepares the team for industry conferences, pitches, and exclusive investor events.

This proposal includes:

• Consensus - https://consensus2025.coindesk.com/ 
• A three-day hackathon for the best innovative Cardano-based projects.
• Hackathon participants will be selected for the highly successful Plug and Play accelerator program.
• 20-minute sponsored Workshop on the Protocol stage
• Sponsor recognition and logo on signage at the stage and working/networking areas
• Sponsor branding on video screens between workshop sessions

• Plug and Play Accelerator - https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/ 
• A complete, turnkey accelerator for Cardano project teams to thrive
• Selection day event occurring during Consensus Crypto Week 
• Two themed investor pitch events and potential corporate-partnership-sponsored events
• 3-day investor summit in Silicon Valley 
• 300+ accelerator introductions, mentoring sessions, office hours & focus weeks 
• Budget for 10 teams to be in the first cohort

• Blockchain North Media Package - https://blockchainnorth.ca/ 
• Announcement posts, teasers of event highlights, feature spotlights, and engaging countdown
• Capturing the entire event from the opening to the award ceremony, delivering polished and branded visual assets
• 2-minute video highlight reels and interviews at event activities

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

Hackathons, workshops, and accelerators are essential to sustained ecosystem development and growth. They promote collaboration, attract new developer talent to an ecosystem, and help inspire innovation, continued creation, and the discovery of new functionalities. The Plug and Play accelerator program allows grassroots innovations to grow into successful companies and profitable ventures.

Value to the Cardano Community: The hackathon and workshop at Consensus will drive innovation within the Cardano ecosystem by tapping into the global tech talent pool. This will bring fresh ideas and solutions and expand the Cardano community with skilled developers. It will also encourage developers to explore Cardano's capabilities, driving innovation. Furthermore, hackathon participants in the accelerator program can increase the probability of user adoption at scale for highly successful projects.

Measuring Impact: The hackathon's success will be measured quantitatively by participant numbers, social networking engagement, and project submissions. The accelerator program will be measured by the funds raised, partnerships announced, and the community growth of each accelerator project.

Sharing Outputs and Opportunities: Key projects will be showcased across various platforms, ensuring visibility. Engagement through social media, webinars, and meetups will keep the community informed and involved. Fostering a sense of community and collaboration beyond the Cardano ecosystem will also attract new talent and projects to Cardano, expanding its reach. 

Consensus Market Reach:

Consensus Hackathon Impact:

Plug and Play Accelerator Impact:

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Consensus Hackathon

Following the successful hackathon model at Consensus 2024, this proposal will sponsor a dedicated track for Cardano alongside other layer-one blockchains. The total prize amount will be sufficient to attract the highest-quality talent. The prize pool will be invested in the winning accelerator project teams.

Project team investments*:

• 1st Place - 25K USD
• 2nd Place - 15K USD
• 3rd Place - 10K USD

*Terms & Conditions:

1. Investment to cover legal, accounting, marketing, professional services, sw/hw licenses, hosting costs, travel, and salary expenses as part of the accelerator program.
2. Payments are tied to completing accelerator milestones
3. Projects must use the Cardano Blockchain during the accelerator program.
4. The Cardano accelerator program must be completed within 1 year to be eligible to receive the milestone payments.

Consensus Hackathon Schedule:

Consensus is the world’s largest, most diverse gathering of the cryptocurrency, blockchain, and Web3 communities produced by award-winning crypto media outlet CoinDesk. The Consensus flagship event now heads to Toronto, setting the stage for the most important conversation in crypto and Web3.

From hard-hitting conversations with visionary speakers to hands-on workshops aimed at solving industry challenges, developers, investors, founders, brands, policymakers, and more will walk away with the tools and insights needed to continue laying the foundation of a more decentralized future.

It is called “Consensus” for a reason. This event is the primary forum where the industry comes together to discuss the most pivotal matters of the day, highlight the biggest successes and debate the most critical conversations.

Accelerator Program (3 months):

• Selection Day (Pitching competition)
• Coaching and product launch planning and preparation (Focus Weeks)
• Innovation Days (collaboration and networking)
• Dealflow Sessions
• Reverse Dealflows
• Office Hours
• Deep Dives
• Corporate innovation best practices seminars
• Roundtable dinners
• Exclusive themed pitch events
• Plug and Play Summit (3-day) in Silicon Valley, California

Plug and Play is the ultimate innovation platform. Our mission is to build the world’s leading innovation platform and make innovation open to anyone, anywhere. We do this by connecting entrepreneurs, corporations, and investors worldwide.

Over the past 15 years, we have brought together 35,000+ startups, 500+ world-leading corporations, and hundreds of venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies across 20+ industries.

We are active in 50+ locations globally, including the U.S., China, France, Germany, South Africa, Singapore, Indonesia, Brazil, and more.

Together with our partners, we are creating a unique ecosystem designed to facilitate meaningful introductions, invest in startups, and bring together key stakeholders.

The industries we focus on include Agtech, Animal Health, Brand & Retail, Crypto & Digital Assets, Energy, Enterprise, Fintech, Food & Beverage, Health, Insurtech, IoT, Maritime, Media & Ad, Mobility, New Materials & Packaging, Real Estate & Construction, Smart Cities, Supply Chain, Sustainability, and Travel & Hospitality.

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Payment: 742,425 ADA

• Signed Consensus sponsorship contract
• Signed Blockchain North Media partnership contract
• Confirm Consensus Protocol workshop host
• Confirm Consensus hackathon judges

Payment: 1,060,606 ADA

• Signed Plug and Play accelerator contract
• Proof that the social media campaign has started

Payment: 43,939 ADA

• Hackathon proof of attendance
• Completed the Consensus Protocol workshop
• Completed the accelerator selection day side event
• Completed closing ceremony and announcement of the prize winners
• Social media engagement metrics and reports
• Post-hackathon video reels and interviews

Payment:  151,515 ADA

• Up to 10 projects onboarded to the accelerator program
• Hackathon-winning projects complete the accelerator program
• Project catalyst close-out report

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Lawrence Ley (Team Lead) is an IT delivery professional with over 20+ years of experience in application development and systems integration in the telecommunication, banking, and retail industries. He teaches blockchain courses at the George Brown College blockchain program and wrote the book Ultimate Cardano Smart Contracts. Lawrence’s Cardano journey started in 2021 and has contributed to the ecosystem with open-source impact projects, code examples, and videos. Lawrence also runs the Cardano Blockchain Toronto meetup with over 644+ members.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrenceley/ 

GitHub: https://github.com/lley154 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lawrenceley8530 

Ismail Khalil (Accelerator Lead) leads Plug and Play Toronto. His current role focuses on the intersection of AI and supporting Plug and Play’s initiatives in Canada of launching its first centre of excellence for AI in Toronto. The COE focuses on Financial Services, Travel and Hospitality, Mobility (Auto), and Digital Health. Plug And Play is the world‘s most active early stage investor and largest corporate innovation platform - spanning 60 cities, +2400 portfolio companies, and +80,000 startups on the platform, with +30 unicorns and two of them being Canadian Trulioo and Apply Board. With its corporate network, Plug and Play works with major Fortune 500 corporations including Shell, Exxon Mobil, Td Bank, US bank, and Mercedes among others. Ismail is also actively involved with the Canadian Blockchain sector, and is an active board member in the PAC Blockchain advisory board for George Brown College.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ismail-khalil-61bbb2ab/

Florent “Flo” Thévenin (Media Lead) - As a professional communicator and entrepreneur, Flo has been producing multimedia thought-leadership projects globally since 2008. In 2017, he co-founded TheFutureEconomy.ca, a Canadian website featuring a broad range of leader interviews and op-eds on the future economy. Building on this success, Flo founded BlockFlo Digital in 2021, to support leaders, small businesses and not for profits in tech, sustainability and advocacy with digital marketing, content creation, events and strategy. The same year, he launched Blockchain North, a media platform dedicated to giving Canada's blockchain industry a voice, both locally and globally. Fluent in four languages, Flo has conducted over 1,500 leader interviews, organized 4 high-profile conferences and worked in 12 countries and 3 Canadian provinces (AB, BC, QC).

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/futurflo 

Audrey Nesbitt (Marketing Lead) - Founder & CEO of SPINNOVATE Tech, is an expert go-to market strategist and key influencer in emerging tech. Audrey's pivotal role as former CMO and marketing advisor for a WEB3 global educational hub, ETHWomen and as mentor for WITM (Women in Technology Management) has been instrumental in advancing the education and empowerment of women and youth in technology. Her impactful work has garnered nominations for the Women in IT Award for Tech Startup of the Year (2023) and Outstanding Leadership (2024) at the Marketing 2.0 Conference, as well as recognition for a women's non-profit educational hub in technology at the Canadian FinTech and AI Awards and the Women in IT Awards Canada.  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audrey-nesbitt/ 

George Petrovic (Crypto Week Side Event Lead) - Distinguished 14-year track record in the Fintech, Banking, Telecom, Gaming and Education domains. Successful track record both on Technology and Business sides – bilingual in English and French. Senior IT and Web3-Blockchain Innovation Leader and Internal Consultant (contributed to both large corporations like Microsoft, Royal Bank of Canada, Telus, Bell and over 20 startups). Renowned for crafting strategic IT solutions, project management and product development. Specialized in digital transformation, innovation strategies and technology adoption. Committed to pushing boundaries and transforming industries through web3 & decentralized solutions. Have been teaching at George Brown for past 6 years and leading the Blockchain Developers Programme.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petrovicgeorge/

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

Education and Skill Development: Running hackathons and workshops fosters talent development and contributes to the growth of a skilled workforce within the Cardano ecosystem.

Adoption and Awareness: Having a Cardano presence at high-profile conferences promotes awareness and adoption of Cardano. 

Network Expansion: Participating in an established event and accelerator helps foster connections into the broader Web2, Web3, and IT ecosystems for partnerships and collaboration. 

Innovation and Projects: Encourage participants to explore and develop projects on the Cardano platform. By fostering innovation, this proposal drives the creation of applications, smart contracts, and other solutions within the ecosystem for increased user adoption.

Acknowledgments & References:

• CardanoCodex - On-boarding the next wave of Developers with this innovative Hackathon event - Pan India by Nucast
• Cardano Hackathon in Berlin organized by NMKR by Patrick Tobler
• Cardano Blockchain Education Program For Top Ethiopian Universities by Tihitna Miroche
• Colombo Cardano Hackathon by Azeem Ashraf
• EAST ASIA 💚 CARDANO: Cardano Hackathon @ DEVCON by Alejandra Marin
• Cardano Vietnam Developer Boot Camp & Hackathon by Thanh Dinh