HACKLAB Foundation in partnership with Ultimate FM is expected to host the biggest Blockchain Hackathon in the Ashanti Region.
The hackathon event will be thew largest in recent times and will come off from Friday April, 19th – Saturday, 21st April 2019, at the Great Hall of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi with over 600 student developers from 18 tertiary institutions in attendance.
The hackathon is a design sprint-like event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers, project managers, and others, often including domain experts, collaborate intensively on software projects.
This year’s event will address the topic: “Can Blockchain Technology Transform the Service Industry in Ghana?”
Hacklab Foundation picked theme based on trending discussions/issues in technology that need addressing from grassroots engagement as they are the relevant stakeholders to every high-level decision made at the government and corporate level.
The focus for the year will be developing solutions using blockchain technology.
The objective of the hackathon is to increase the number of blockchain developers and grow local use cases of blockchain technology to address existing challenges in the Ghanaian service industry.
In an interview ahead of the event the Founder & President, of HACKLAB Foundation Foster Awintiti Akugri, stated that; “Blockchain Technology has exhibited great potential to address the issues around trust, transparency and accountability and democracy as quoted in the book titled: 4th Industrial Revolution, authored by Professor Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum as the “technology of trust”. I believe that Africa’s cancer corruption and transparency can be addressed by Blockchain Technology. Through this year’s hackathon, we also hope to grow the number of blockchain developers and use cases for Africa through the hackathon as we’ve championed in the previous years with Financial Inclusion, E-Commerce and IoT.”
The 2019 Hackathon challenge will task participants to develop solutions to address problems in the Education, Agriculture, Energy, Tax, Financial Service, Healthcare, Transportation and Logistics Sector using Blockchain Technology.
There will be so many opportunities for participants including 10 award categories with a total of GHC12,000.00 in cash prizes to be won, on-spot internships and job recruitments and investment opportunities to scale solutions that emerge from the hackathon challenge.
Other perks will also be awarded to winning teams including IBM Cloud Credits, Google Cloud Credits, RingCaptcha Credits, Start-up branding opportunities for the top 10 teams, etc. Winning teams will also get the opportunity to participate in the Hacklab-GSBS Start-up School, a 6-week pre-incubation program to further develop their solutions.
The Hacklab Foundation is a non-for-profit organization, established since September 2015 in Ghana, focused on preparing the youth for future jobs, by helping them develop their skills through hackathons and bootcamps, connecting them to industry through internships and breeding entrepreneurs through mentorship and incubation, who create jobs for others.
The Foundation has impacted over 4000 people since its inception and will reach over 100,000 people by 2021 through its partnership with IBM on the National Digital Skills Training Program. Learn more the Foundation here: www.hacklabgh.org
“We Code Too” Travel Grant for Women
As part of the Hacklab Foundation’s objective to increase women participation at the Hackathon, they have partnered Yielding Accomplished Africa Women (YAAW), a finance and technology accelerator for women providing a yearlong program in which female college students complete an intensive educational course in finance/technology, leadership development, branding and professional etiquette. The partnership will provide travel grants for up to 20 ladies living outside Kumasi to participate in the Hackathon. To apply visit: https://goo.gl/forms/RoUV4KkR6FRoSbip1
How to Register for the Hackathon
Download the official event App Hacklab Connect available on
Google Play Store: https://goo.gl/zoXYNM
Apple’s Appstore: https://goo.gl/ok1Djb
Or visit website via: www.connect.hacklabgh.org
Participating schools include Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi Technical University, Ho Technical University, Ghana Telecommunication University College.
The rest are Koforidua Technical University, Central University, Ashesi University, Christian Service University College, University of Development Studies.
The remaining institutions are Garden City University, Kessben University College, University of Ghana, Wisconsin International University College, Pentecost University College, Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology, Ghana and many more.
Hacklab 2019 is sponsored by Stanbic Bank Ghana, Vodafone Ghana, IBM and supported by NBU Hub, RingCaptcha, Africa’s Talking, Ninety3 Studios, Certified Ghana, Orios Group.
Other institutions supporting are Penta Global Foundation, Emerge, Playmud Consult, Emergent Africa, Yielding Accomplished African Women, Developers in Vogue, Global Shapers Community Kumasi Hub, Orientation Africa, Identity Ghana, ROOM63, College of Science-KNUST and the Computer Science Society-KNUST.
Media partners include: Ultimate FM of E, HyperActive Gh, Watsuptek, TechToday, Dartey Media, TechVoice Africa and Urban Avenue.
Follow Hacklab 2019 with the hashtag #hacklab2019 for live updates on:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/hacklabgh
Twitter: www.twitter.com/hacklabgh
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/hacklabgh
Source : www.hacklabgh.org
The post HACKLAB Foundation to host 600 Developers for 2019 Blockchain Hackathon. appeared first on Ultimate FM.
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