ISLAMABAD: Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) at National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) hosted a two-day mega international Hackathon – Telecom Application Development Hackathon (TADHack), at NUST H-12 campus as well as at Karachi NUST PNEC in collaboration with Telestax USA, Ufone, National Radio Telecommunication Corporation and Technology Innovators.
According to details, the telecom application development is a US-based initiative that was started in 2013 as a grassroots effort to build an ecosystem focused on telecom application development. The mission is 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 received an overwhelming response from all over the country but shortlisted 15 teams to participate in the mega event. An independent panel of judges comprising of 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 assessed the applications developed by the participants declaring “Moomble” by Muhammad Hamza Zakir as the winner and “Sahulat” by Osama Arshad Dar, Shahzeb Naveed and Haider Ali Cheema as the runner-up.
The session was also attended online by Telestax USA co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Ivelin Ivanov. The university received great support from the Telecom industry as Ufone and National Radio Telecommunication were the official sponsors and partners for the event.
The event was attended by representatives from the industry, businesses and various government organisations. Representatives from Punjab Population Innovation Fund (PPIF) from Lahore also attended the event to assess the possibilities of getting their specific applications developed under the offered platform.
Speaking at the occasion, NUST Pro-rector Rear Admiral Dr Nassar Ikram highlighted the importance of hackathons to instil the entrepreneurial capabilities amongst the youth and in bringing together the industry, businesses, developers and students.
Chief Guest on the occasion, ICT Chairman Nooruddin Baqai, distributed the certificates, prize money and souvenirs to the participants of the event. He graciously admired NUST to organise and host the event in a befitting manner.