‘Verizon 75’ takes coveted top prize

–next contest set for March 2017
By Vishani Ragobeer
AFTER a grueling 48-hour non-stop ‘battle of the smarts’ to see who could come up with the goods, ‘Hackathon 2016’ ended Sunday with Team ‘Verizon 75 (V75)’ taking the coveted first prize.

Left to settle for second and third places respectively were Team ‘Code Ops’ of Suriname and Team ‘Macros’.

Billed as the first ever such event to be held here, ‘Hackathon 2016’, which began at 12:00hrs on Friday, saw eight teams of computer-savvy youngsters vying for the chance to create an Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-focused product that could aid in Guyana’s national development.

According to ICT Advisor to the Minister of Public Communication, Mr Lance Hinds, the purpose of the competition was to allow for the promotion of Guyanese talent to provide solutions for “real” Guyanese problems.

And, judging from the success of this first outing, he’s already set the third week in March, 2017 as the date for the next Hackathon, with mobile giant GT&T already pleading to sponsor this event again.

At the closing ceremony on Sunday, Minister of Public Telecommunications, Ms Cathy Hughes said that having held such an event, she will now be able to show the decision-makers the talent Guyana has, and posit the solutions presented by these young developers.

THE PRODUCTS
First and third place winners, who earned $300,000 and $150,000 respectively, both created products which targeted effective incident-reporting platforms.

The winning product, “Tell”, created by V 75, allows for the subscription of various authoritative figures to be connected to certain types of reports. A typical example is the Guyana Power & Light Inc (GPL) subscribing to reports of power failures in areas.

The second-place product, created by the Surinamese ‘Code Ops’, was proposed to be an easy-to-use electronic wallet and transaction service for old-age pensioners, those with disabilities, and the general public.

THE GOAL
In addition to the three podium-finishing teams, the five other competitors were ‘Bitboat’, ‘Intellect Storm’, ‘Imperial Fist’, ‘Web & Motion’ and ‘GAJ’.

The teams each had to create an ICT product which targeted real problems in the Guyanese society.
Their goal was to create either a website-based or mobile app solution, or both, to create an effective payment system for old-age pensioners; an agricultural marketing platform; or an incident reporting platform.