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Hackathons are a powerful innovation tool that has allowed companies of all sizes to generate new products, business models and even spin-offs. The term is believed to have been coined by Niels Provos in the 1990s during a community event on June 4, 1999 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In 1929 in India a Design Contest was organized to encourage homegrown textile companies to come out and design a smaller, more portable spinning wheel. The organizer, Gandhi, took the winning design to jail — for many this was the concept of the modern hackathon.