The challenges of remote work during the pandemic left BMO grappling with diminished employee engagement, weakened cross-functional collaboration, and a loss of the spontaneous interactions that spark innovation. Siloed thinking and a lack of effective collaboration stifled creativity, making it difficult to tap into employees’ collective intelligence and potential to generate fresh, actionable solutions for key business challenges for the bank.

Recognizing the need to re-energize its workforce and strengthen its innovation culture, BMO seized the opportunity to launch a company-wide hackathon for its Technology & Operations (T&O) and Digital departments.



This initiative provided employees with a dynamic and engaging space to connect, collaborate, and contribute innovative ideas.



By breaking down team silos and fostering a renewed sense of shared belonging, the hackathon not only reenergized the workforce, but also reinforced BMO’s commitment to building a sustainable pipeline of innovative solutions to boldly grow the good in business and life.

We design and execute hackathons and workshops tailored to equip employees with essential skills that extend well beyond the event. 



By integrating startup-based workshops such as our "Onova UI/UX Design Workshop" and "Pitch Like a Pro" session, we ensure participants gain practical, entrepreneurial tools that they can seamlessly apply to their day-to-day roles.



Our approach ensures every element of the hackathon — from kickoff to judging — runs flawlessly. We facilitate meaningful workforce engagement, foster collaboration across diverse teams, and streamline communication between participants, technology leaders, mentors, judges and organizers.



Through our proven track record of delivering high-impact innovation programs, we empower companies' top innovators to unlock their full creative potential and build a sustainable innovation pipeline for the business.

Our in-person hackathons deliver magical experiences that go far beyond the norm, blending innovation with fun, energy and connection. 



At BMO’s recent supercharged hackathon, activities like yoga, rocket-building, bracelet-making, live scribing and custom trivia made the event feel like an “adult Disneyland.” These elements transformed the hackathon into a truly magical and unforgettable experience at work.



With record-breaking attendance rate and completion rates, our engagement approach proves that employees thrive when given opportunities to organically connect, create, and collaborate.



By combining professional growth and employee upskilling with meaningful engagement, our supercharged hackathons energize organizations in ways that last well beyond the event.

The Technology Partner Village featured cutting-edge AI, CRM and cybersecurity tools from AWS, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, Splunk and CrowdStrike, empowering employees to explore real-world use cases and integrate these tools into their day-to-day work. 



Through foundational and intermediate workshops across a 7-week virtual learning curriculum, participants gained valuable hands-on technical skills, driving technology adoption and sparking innovation across departments and teams.



This dynamic space connected technology partner account executives with business leaders and BMO employees, creating opportunities to showcase new tools, share insights, and ensure seamless tool adoption.



For large technology partners, the Village offered a platform to build awareness and engagement, demonstrate tools, and foster deeper alignment with BMO's organizational goals.

The hackathon brought together a diverse group of contributors across BMO to foster innovation. Mentors, SMEs and challenge sponsors guided teams through the process, while judges ensured ideas were thoughtfully evaluated. Leadership and early-career employees ideated side-by-side, creating a dynamic culture of mentorship and collaboration. Final pitch sessions showcased BMO employees' top creativity, problem solving and pitching abilities, reinforcing the bank’s commitment to innovation at every level.