Hackathon event kicks off today

Manama : Connect2Effect, a UN backed hackathon event for youngsters to showcase their ideas to help achieve UN’s Sustainable Development Goals will be launched here today. 

Over 100 youngsters will present their ideas at the event organised by Influx Trust, a UK Charity organisation. 

Bahrain is the only Middle East country to have chosen to  participate in the event, organised by the UK charity in collaboration with UN. 

Apart from Bahrain, contestants from Bali, Chandigarh, Geneva, Lagos, Lisbon, London, New York, and Rio are also participating.

The Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) are a set of 17 goals agreed upon by 193 member states of the UN as priorities for the world to tackle by 2030. 

The SDG allocated for Bahrain participants in this competition is Goal 9: Industry Innovation, & Infrastructure. 

“We are extremely proud that such an initiative has come to Bahrain. We are very happy to have 100 young Bahrainis present their ideas, and to train and mentor them for future businesses for the development of the Kingdom,” United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) Resident Representative Amin El Sharkawi said.

The hackathon will allow 100 people in each location to submit ideas that can help achieve the SDGs. The submissions will be shown to a panel of judges who will decide the winners. Each country will have three winners.  

The winning teams will be given resources and support to test their ideas over the next six months. They will then be invited to demonstrate their ideas at the UN Headquarters in New York City, USA.

Dr. Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Undersecretary for International Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Bahrain will continue focusing on supporting its new generation and support any event or activity that will expose them to international experience. 

UNDP Programme Analyst Ali Salman said: “Our young Bahrainis deserve to get their chance to find their way to build their capacities and future.  Such an opportunity is worth enrolling at, and I hope we could duplicate such a pro-youth event as part of some local successful events and initiatives, such as the ‘Youth City 2030’.”

“For the first time in our history, we are at a point where we have the tools, ideas and technology to solve the world’s problems and have a real impact on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Hackathons work in a way to bring passionate entrepreneurs into a room to rapidly generate an unprecedented level of innovation and collaboration,” Zoheb Iqbal from Influx Trust stated.