The Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences launched a “Hackathon” competition under the slogan # MBRUHacksCOVID-19, as part of its initiatives to tackle the emerging coronavirus (Covid-19).
The competition aims to activate the participation of community members, both citizens and residents, in developing innovative solutions that support government efforts to contain the spread of the virus.
The university provided an opportunity to participate in the "Hackathon", which was launched yesterday and will continue until April 22nd, individually or collectively through the formation of teams, in order to attract the best ideas and proposals on developing various innovations, such as applications and electronic portals, designing services or digital prototypes. That would help detect and track the virus.
The competition allocated a cash prize of 50 thousand dirhams to the winning team, in addition to the "National Impact" grant offered by the "Al Watan Fund" initiative, which is worth 25 thousand dirhams, to be awarded by one of the winning solutions.
Hackathon focuses on five categories of challenges: testing and tracking, safety, community, communication, and the supply chain.
The competition aims to support innovative solutions centered on the best ways to test, locate and track people infected with the "Covid-19" virus, and the means to prevent this disease, now and in the future, as well as support solutions to avoid the negative social and economic impacts of this temporary challenge, and innovative strategies designed To move smoothly from a state of social divergence to a normal life, a jury of specialists from key sectors will assess the solutions involved.
The competition conditions are limited to the low cost of the solutions offered, the ease of development and their suitability for daily use.
On the first day of its launch, the platform registered more than 400 participation in the challenge, and the solutions will be evaluated according to a set of criteria, including the impact on the population, the economic feasibility, the efforts required for implementation, and their compatibility with the efforts to address the "Covid-19" virus.
The competition allowed participants to register, whether as competitors or mentors, and the participating teams will have three days to design, test and modify the innovations they have reached.
They shall submit the final copy of their work to the jury in the form of a two-minute video clip, in English.
Each team will have the opportunity to communicate with mentors, through pre-booked video calls that span 30 minutes, based on their skills balance and how they relate to the solution the team is developing.
The "Hackathon" was launched by the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, under the slogan # MBRUHacksCOVID-19.
400
Participation in the challenge was registered via the platform in the first days of its launch.