The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Economy and Ericsson, have announced the launch of the ‘Together Apart Hackathon’, taking place between April 22nd, 2021 to March 31st, 2022. The Hackathon aims to accelerate the journey towards a more connected future and solving global challenges.
The Together Apart Hackathon aims to attract new ideas and stimulate innovations in the target verticals, by engaging with the innovators, disruptors and creative people of the UAE to build technology-based solutions aligned to the UAE vision 2021 showcasing the power of 5G.
Participants will seek to find innovative solutions in the six broad themes of UAE’s Vision 2021 – World Class Healthcare and Wellbeing, First Rate Education System: The Ease Of Learning and Access to Education – future of education, Competitive Knowledge And Digital Economy, Sustainable Environment And Infrastructure, Safe Public and Fair Judiciary, and Cohesive Society and Preserved Identity Transcending Physical Borders.
The hackathon is open to all professional developers, programmers, designers, engineers, technopreneurs, university students and creative individuals from all private and public institutions based in the UAE. The programme kicks off with a call for ideas, wherein interested participants can register online to submit their pitches. Top five ideas from each theme will be shortlisted to participate in the hackathon.
In addition, webinars will be carried out to inspire, educate and prepare the participants with the necessary skills for the idea development starting April 22nd 2021. These webinars will be open to the public and registration is available on the following link: https://www.ericsson.com/en/events/together-apart-hackathon. A distinguished group of speakers will participate in the event, where relevant topics will be discussed to inspire innovators and change-makers in the country.
HE. Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, UAE Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises, said that the launch of this innovative hackathon represents an advanced and fruitful example of the well-established partnership between the public and private sector in supporting and developing the innovation environment in the country, especially by linking it to the goals of the national agenda for the UAE Vision 2021.
“Innovation is an essential element and a catalyst of the UAE economy and its plans for future economic and social development. Motivating innovators to discuss and develop the best technological solutions and creative ideas will contribute to creating a rich environment for the transition to a new level of a knowledge economy based on creativity, inventions, information and communication technology and research and development activities,” Al Falasi said.
Wojciech Bajda, Vice President and Head, Gulf Council Countries, Ericsson, said: “Ericsson is excited to support UAE’s vision by playing a key role in sparking innovation in the country. The hackathon is being driven by Ericsson’s UAE Innovation Hub and is evidence of the company’s firm commitment to the UAE and towards accelerating the journey of Digital Transformation in the country. We are confident that this Hackathon will provide a platform to encourage the best minds in the country to come forward to develop solutions for the benefit of the UAE. The UAE’s digital evolution correlates with our goal to drive technological advancement and accelerate sustainable development in the country. We also aim to work with the winners to turn their ideas into reality.”
A total of six winning teams will be chosen – one winning team from each focus area in UAE Vision 2021. The six winning teams will receive support in testing their solutions and will also be given the chance to showcase their solutions at the Swedish Pavilion in Expo2020.
