The National Academy of Information Technology for Persons with Disabilities (NAID) has concluded the Assistive Technologies (AT) Hackathon, organized on April 8-10, at NAID premises, in Smart Village, under the theme “Ideas with exceptional abilities.”
The Hackathon was organized as part of NAID strategy, the main objective of which is promoting Research and Development (R&D) in AT to leverage ICT in serving and including Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in the society.
More than 90 people applied to join the Hackathon, 30 of which were accepted, forming 10 teams. They were trained on how to choose, implement and transform the right AT idea into a successful startup in the future. Training and mentoring lasted for five days, with lectures taking place online and at NAID premises, for three days.
During the hackathon, the participants went through different workshops to innovate, design and test ideas, and learn how to save time and effort as they work. On the last day, the ideas were pitched at the headquarters of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), and evaluated by a jury including experts and specialists.
The top three participants were announced and awarded cash prizes; the first place winner received EGP 20,000, the second, EGP 15,000, and the third, EGP 10,000. In addition, other ideas were accepted for the pre-incubation program following the hackathon.
The hackathon provided a good opportunity for AT researchers and developers, entrepreneurs, idea and project owners, graduates and innovative PwDs to share ideas in integrating and empowering PwDs, harnessing ICT, and developing products and applications to serve PwDs.
