I think there's a giant difference between a spec competition of the type that you describe, where architects are invited to create proposals for a company headquarters, and a hackathon of the type that PayPal's BattleHack is.
Generally speaking, most hackathons now don't try to make intellectual property claims on entrants' work. I'm sure some still do, but that's just a bad idea for everyone involved, and I do agree with you that those should be avoided. Whether or not VC's are interested in the pitches is really up to the teams involved - they're certainly not obligated to take VC's money.
24 hour hackathons are completely different from spec-work - you're in a room with other developers, the scope of the work is limited to just 24 hours, and the best use of them is simply to stretch your legs as a developer.
To go back to the writer's ideal hackathon, BattleHack has multiple companies involved, along with PayPal, although PayPal is the main sponsor. You can sleep or not sleep at BattleHack - I slept during both BattleHack Austin and the BattleHack world finals when I attended last year. Every hackathon I've ever been to has been relatively friendly when it comes to helping others, even with prizes on the line.
You can have hackathons without big prizes (for instance, most civic hackathons), or even without coding competitions/pitches (for instance, Hacker Olympics).
Disclaimer: I won BattleHack Austin last year, went to the BattleHack world finals to compete there, and won several vendor prizes at each. I've also competed and mentored in many other hackathons.
Generally speaking, most hackathons now don't try to make intellectual property claims on entrants' work. I'm sure some still do, but that's just a bad idea for everyone involved, and I do agree with you that those should be avoided. Whether or not VC's are interested in the pitches is really up to the teams involved - they're certainly not obligated to take VC's money.
24 hour hackathons are completely different from spec-work - you're in a room with other developers, the scope of the work is limited to just 24 hours, and the best use of them is simply to stretch your legs as a developer.
To go back to the writer's ideal hackathon, BattleHack has multiple companies involved, along with PayPal, although PayPal is the main sponsor. You can sleep or not sleep at BattleHack - I slept during both BattleHack Austin and the BattleHack world finals when I attended last year. Every hackathon I've ever been to has been relatively friendly when it comes to helping others, even with prizes on the line.
You can have hackathons without big prizes (for instance, most civic hackathons), or even without coding competitions/pitches (for instance, Hacker Olympics).
Disclaimer: I won BattleHack Austin last year, went to the BattleHack world finals to compete there, and won several vendor prizes at each. I've also competed and mentored in many other hackathons.