Illustrative image (Source: VNA) About 100 programmers, developers and social activists gathered in Hackathon for Social Good, a 48-hour coding contest to create useful technology products with commercial values for the society, in Hanoi on October 24-25.
The competition was organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, HATCH! PROGRAM – a social enterprise and startup incubator, Live & Learn Environment Education, British Council Vietnam, Humanist Institute for Cooperation (Hivos), and Southeast Asia Technology and Transparency Initiatives (SEATTI).
Competing technology products address several social issues, including employment for the youth, transparency and public service assessment, creative economy, disaster safety education and climate change.
These works will be evaluated based on following criteria – innovation, feasibility, social benefits, and commercial values alongside capacity to support sustainable development.
Dr. Pratibha Mahta, United Nations Resident Coordinator, said the contest is an innovative idea which has paved the way for new partnerships in fostering public participation and achieving sustainable development goals in Vietnam.
Through this year’s Hackathon for Social Goods, the third edition of the contest, HATCHI! PROGRAM wishes to provide young people an insight into the promising market for social products and support them to develop information technology products towards sustainable development, Director Pham Quoc Dat stated.
The competition will run through mid-night October 25. Five most outstanding teams will be selected for the exhibition and presentations on October 31 and November 1 where many investors and policymakers from Vietnam and overseas gather.
Winners will be granted up to 5,000 USD.-VNA
