Islamabad : Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) at National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) hosted a 2-day mega international Hackathon – Telecom Application Development Hackathon (TADHack) at NUST H-12 Campus as well as at NUST PNEC Karachi in collaboration with Telestax USA, Ufone, National Radio Telecommunication Corporation and Technology Innovators.
The Telecom Application Development is a US based initiative that was started in 2013 as a grassroots effort to build an ecosystem focused on telecom application development. The mission is to bring together businesses, developers, non-coders and enthusiasts in using telecom capabilities in their applications, services, or businesses to solve local and global problems.
NUST received an overwhelming response from all over Pakistan but shortlisted 15 teams to participate in the mega event. An independent panel of judges comprising of Mr Salman Wasay, Chief Executive of Couch Potato, Mr Ali Ahmed Sarwer, General Manager Technology Digital services and development at Ufone, Mr Mohammad Faisal, Head of Information & Communication Technology at UNHCR, Mr Anwer Khan, CEO of Evamp & Saanga, Dr. Tariq Mehmood, Chief Data Scientist at Nexdegree and Professor at IBA, Karachi and Dr. Syed Hussain Rizvi, Associate Professor at FEST- Hamdard University Karachi, assessed the applications developed by the participants declaring “Moomble†by Mr Muhammad Hamza Zakir as the winner and “Sahulat†by Mr Osama Arshad Dar, Mr Shahzeb Naveed and Mr Haider Ali Cheema as the runner up. The session was joined by Mr. Ivelin Ivanov, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Telestax USA, through the online channel. NUST received great support from the Telecom industry as Ufone and National Radio Telecommunication were the official sponsor and partner for the event. The event was attended by representatives from the industry, businesses and various govt organizations. Representative from Punjab Population Innovation Fund (PPIF) from Lahore also attended the event to assess the possibilities of getting their specific applications developed under the offered platform. Speaking at the occasion, Pro-rector NUST Rear Admiral Dr Nassar Ikram HI(M) highlighted the importance of Hackathons to instill the entrepreneurial capabilities amongst our youth and in bringing together the industry, businesses, developers and students. Chief Guest, Mr Nooruddin Baqai, chairman of ICT Think tank distributed the certificates, prize money and souvenirs to the participants of the event. The Chief Guest very graciously admired NUST to organize and host this event in such a befitting manner.
