DeCode Dubai II: results revealed and a promising future
DeCode Dubai hackathon, organized by In5 Innovatoin Centre and Dubai Internet City, reflects their continuous efforts in driving Dubai leadership's new innovation strategy forward, by empowering entrepreneurs and inspiring creative ideas.
The third day of DeCode Dubai II was judging day. All of the teams presented their work to a panel of qualified judges in 5 minutes, and that was followed by 2 minutes of questions from the judges. The presentation included the idea, target customers, potential, competitors, and a short demo of the prototype built. The judges then started asking the teams questions, which also aimed at helping in guiding the teams in the right direction.
The judges who took part in DeCode Dubai II were:
Ashish Panjabi - Jackys Electronics
Ashish Sidhra - du
Dr. Noah Raford - PMO
Dr. Sara Ishaq Mohammad - RTA
Francisco Salcedo - Etisalat
Ihsan Jawad - Honeybee Tech Ventures
Jitendra Jain - Starwood Hotels MENA
Majed Alsuwaidi - Managing Director of Dubai Internet City
Marwan Bin Haidar - Dubai Smart Governmet
Najla Al Midfa - YAL, UAB
Omar Al Mahmoud - ICT Fund
Philippe Blanchard - Expo2020
Sacha Vekeman - Green IT Globe
Sougata Nandi - Climate Control Middle East
It is always impressive to see a team come up with an idea, pitch it, create a team, build a concept demo, and present it in less than 48 hours, and as members are taking part in more and more of these hackathons, you can clearly see the improvement in their performance. The judges met after each theme, and in the end, revealed the winners of each of the five themes:
The winners were:
Shopping and Retail: Virtual Store
Culture and Tourism: Be There
Collaborative City: Karmaconomy
Urban Mobility: Connected Cars
Energy and Emission: EnergiCity
The teams will participate in another event, along with the runner-ups, in order to win a trip to Smart City App Hack in Barcalona and compete on a global level.
What we wish to see here is that these teams pursue their idea, and develop it into a live application that can help develop the infrastructure of our cities.
Souq.com and Huawei presented several awards, including an award for the youngest hacker, the three most social media active participants, and the judge’s award for the most impressive team. All winners and runner-ups were granted free membership at In5, and this should definitely encourage them to continue with their efforts.
DubaiTechStartups, having attended the event from start to end, have chosen their favorites as well. This is a team that we saw working effortlessly to improve their idea, and work closely with mentors to redirect their concept several times until they found the right one. This team is My Green Rank, an app that senses a person’s water, gas and electricity footprint at home and ranks them accordingly.
Lastly, we would like to help our fellow DeCoders in showing our concern for TheApp. If they read this, please do contact us so we can let the community know that you are ok.
Congratulations again to all winners, and looking forward to writing your success stories!
