Young minds exhorted to take part in Salalah Hackathon

SALALAH, April 23 - Young minds have been exhorted to look for smart solutions by the Smart City Platform, which involves coders, designers and all sorts of techno savvy people to get dynamic yet simple solutions and convert the challenges into opportunities. At its first meeting in Salalah, the office-bearers of the Smart City Platform called upon the youths to participate in the Salalah Hackathon which is to be held during the Khareef Festival from August 1 to 3. The Middle East Center for Consultancy and Studies and the Google Developers Group are major partners of the Hackathon. The Hackathon is a competition aimed at encouraging the youths to act smart by developing dynamic apps and collaborating with the like-minded individuals in the sector. Dr Hafedh bin Ibrahim al Shihi, Executive Director of the Smart City Platform, announced the modalities of the competition at Sultan Qaboos Youth Complex for Culture and Entertainment and said: “This is an opportunity to invite the Omani youths to participate in the upcoming smart solutions competition and address the prevailing challenges in different walks of life.” “Based on the tools offered by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Hackathon is aimed at developing smart solutions in three main areas like, tourism and heritage, transport and logistics, and environment and water,” he said. Commenting on the scale of the competition, Dr Hafedh al Shihi said, the competition is expected to attract participation from inside and outside the Sultanate due to popularity of the Khareef Festival and huge inflow of people from many places. Smart City Platform, according to him, is a strategic project established by The Research Council, (TRC), the Supreme Council of Planning, Muscat Municipality and the Information Technology Authority. “The Platform has successfully organised similar events in Muttrah and Suhar. Such events are part of the Smart City Platform role in spreading awareness of smart solutions to cities, developing smart solutions for cities, and building national capabilities of applying modern technologies.” Dr Ali bin Suhail Tabuk, CEO of the Middle East Center for Consultancy and Studies, explained the objectives of the Hackathon and said, “The competition idea is to take advantage of technology advancement in developing innovative solutions to address the challenges faced by Salalah city.” “The Hackathon is aimed at giving a boost to economic, tourist and historical status of Salalah, which has big volume of government investments. The innovative minds can suggest how to reap maximum benefits from the city’s strategic location, infrastructure development and tourism potential,” Dr Tabuk Said.