- April 15, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
ESTERO — Car rental giant Hertz, in partnership with Florida Gulf Coast University, recently hosted the Hertz Hackathon, a computing, engineering and digital innovation event.
The Hackathon was held at Hertz's global headquarters in Estero. Participants worked together to develop solutions to problems and market trends using methods such as software algorithms, mobile applications and analytical insights.
This was the third consecutive year of the competition. More than 50 students from FGCU and Fort Myers Technical College participated, according to a press release. Representatives from IBM, Salesforce.com, TriFin Labs, FGCU and Hertz were advisors and mentors to the students during the event.
Students worked in teams for 24 hours and presented their solutions the next day. The winning team of four FGCU students developed a cloud-enabled beacon reservation app.
“We were very impressed by the problem solving and final hacks presented by the FGCU students,” says Hertz Director of Global Customer Relationship Management Technologies and event organizer Greg Palk in a statement. “This event is not only great for Hertz, but will also help these students to jump start their careers.”
Estero-based Hertz, which has struggled for several years with leadership and accounting issues, was No. 269 on the 2016 Fortune 500. The company dropped off the list in 2015 because of delayed filings with the SEC. Hertz had $1.5 billion in revenue last year.
