Mega international Hackathon by Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) held for 2 days at National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Telecom Application Development Hackathon (TADHack), at NUST H-12 campus and at Karachi NUST PNEC in association with Telestax USA, Ufone, National Radio Telecommunication Corporation and Technology Innovators.
In 2013, a US-based initiative started Telecom application development to build an ecosystem focused on telecom application development aimed to bring together businesses, developers, non-coders and enthusiasts in using telecom capabilities in their applications, services, or businesses to solve local and global problems.
NUST has shortlisted 15 teams to participate in the mega event from overwhelming response across Pakistan. Couch Potato Chief Executive Salman Wasay, Mr. Ali Ahmed Sarwer, Ufone Technology Digital Services and Development General Manager Mohammad Faisal, UNHCR Information and Communication Technology head Anwer Khan, Evamp and Saanga CEO Dr. Tariq Mehmood, Nexdegree Chief Data Scientist and Karachi IBA Professor Dr Syed Hussain Rizvi and Karachi Hamdard University FEST associate professor as an independent panel of judges assessed the applications developed by the participants and announced “Moomble” by Muhammad Hamza Zakir as the winner and “Sahulat” by Osama Arshad Dar, Shahzeb Naveed and Haider Ali Cheema as the runner-up.
Telestax USA co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Ivelin Ivanov has also attended the session online. Telecom industry as Ufone and National Radio Telecommunication were the official sponsors and partners for the event of university.
Representatives from the industry, businesses and various government organizations and representatives from Punjab Population Innovation Fund (PPIF) from Lahore has attended the event to evaluate the likelihood of getting their specific applications developed under platform.
Dr. Nassar Ikram, NUST Pro-rector Rear Admiral emphasized the importance of hackathons to impart entrepreneurial skills to youth and fetching together the industry, businesses, developers, and students.
ICT Chairman Nooruddin Baqai, Chief Guest on the occasion, distributed the certificates, prize money and souvenirs to the participants of the event. He admired NUST for organizing an event in a befitting manner.