AT&T and Emerging Prairie ‘Hack Fargo’

You may not know it but Fargo, ND is home to some of America’s largest and most prominent tech companies, including aggressive start-ups and entrepreneurs set on making this region a new tech hub. Last month AT&T collaborated with Emerging Prairie, a company committed to energizing the Upper Great Plains tech community, to host the first of what we hope to be a series of mini-hackathons. The Hack Fargo event brought together over 50 potential developers for an evening of mobile app development and fun competition that focused on two sectors that are vibrant in the heartland – health care and agriculture.

One team developed a mobile chat room that enabled farmers to manage crops from seed to harvest and helped ensure efficient use of pesticides and fertilizers. Another team from nearby Moorhead State University designed an app that would monitor and track users’ medication dosages by communicating with a chip embedded in the cap of a pill bottle. No more forgetting to take your pills or accidentally taking an extra dose! Our hackathon judges recognized that these apps would improve processes, benefit users and potentially save lives.

We knew that with only five short hours for our hackathon, there would be limitations on what could be imagined and developed. Yet we found an amazing innovative and hard-working spirit in the Emerging Prairie. We’re going to keep an eye on these teams and their ideas as we continue to collaborate with the Fargo tech community. Hosting Hack Fargo with Emerging Prairie was just the beginning.

There is a lot of talent in this region that we will continue to support and encourage through future hackathons. We look forward to being a partner in this heartland tech revolution. For us, it was the event of the year!

To learn more about the innovation at and see photos from Hack Fargo, visit Emerging Prairie’s blog.