Consultation to get ideas on the next edition of the UAE Hackathon

About the subject

On 4 February 2018, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) organised the UAE Hackathon under the theme ‘Data for Happiness’, to enhance innovation and contribute to the happiness of the society. The event coincided with the Innovation Month and covered all emirates. The UAE Hackathon achieved noticeable success. It gathered more than 780 participants, who participated in 176 teams. In addition, there were 213 volunteers, 58 mentors and 46 trainers. Participating teams produced more than 60 feasible creative ideas in different fields, to improve the standard of living and bring happiness to people.

As the UAE Hackathon achieved great success this year, TRA decided to organise the event every year. The hackathon themes would be defined according to the trend prevailing during the year in which it is organised. However, the goals of the hackathon will remain the same. These goals include future shaping, handling big data and developing solutions to contribute to the society’s happiness.

Share your thoughts

As the UAE Hackathon 2018 was successfully finished, we are still looking forward to consult you on the prospects of improvement of the next edition of the hackathon in 2019. TRA organised an innovation lab to discuss ideas in this regard. Representatives of TRA and PMO participated in the lab. It was divided into three sessions; the last one focused on brainstorming ideas on five main issues. These issues were:

•           Hackathon theme and range - the workshop participants discussed the idea of keeping, changing or modifying the current theme.

•           Promotion, media and finance - the session discussed the marketing plan, promotion ideas, investment of media kits of 2018 hackathon. It further discussed the digital marketing process, hackathon website and final ceremony.

•           Partners, organisation and contracting - the participants discussed the organisation process, whether to be implemented by TRA itself or by an external company, or to be outsourced. They also discussed the finance process, and whether the hackathon should be financed by TRA, or to be sponsored by another private or government entity.

•           Ideas and solutions investment - this issue covers the proposed and expected scenarios to implement ideas and solutions submitted in the hackathon and how they can be financed and sponsored.

•           Curriculum and training materials - this issue covers training courses, training certificates, trainers and training companies. It also includes the idea of hackathon for children and whether it could be implemented in line with the main hackathon.

Recommendations

The lab continued for three hours as scheduled. At the end of the sessions, the following recommendations were issued:

Other recommendations were:

•           Representatives of government entities concerned should participate in the supervision and evaluation committees.

•           A clear evaluation form shall be prepared to be a standard for evaluating all participants.

For sure, you have many constructive ideas and thoughts in your mind. Kindly share your thoughts to suggest challenges to be tackled by the UAE Hackathon 2019. We have some topics discussed in the lab, including government services, education, lifestyle and advanced science. However, we want to focus on finding solutions for problems and challenges faced daily by the public. Also, share with us your suggestions on challenges faced by determined people to find solutions for them in the UAE Hackathon 2019. You are invited to provide any other thoughts related to the five issues mentioned above.

What you can expect

We promise to monitor and systematically analyse your feedback and pay due attention to your suggestions related to the next edition of the UAE Hackathon. We appreciate your response, assuring that the UAE youth are real partners in shaping the UAE’s future and that their minds are mines of creative ideas.