Techies wiring up for second hackathon

The survey, "Code for Change Myanmar Business Solutions Hackathon", runs until August 22. Businesses in Myanmar are being asked to submit their challenges that technology could address.

The survey is being called ahead of the second "Business Solutions Hackathon" in Yangon, planned for September 5-7. At this event, 50 of Myanmar's best developers, designers and entrepreneurs will join forces to use technology to solve critical problems in Myanmar.

One question is "What is the problem that you are working on/trying to solve?" For example, for a restaurant business, is there any desire to allow customers to order food delivery through a mobile app?

“This is a great opportunity to find technology solutions for your business. We encourage businesses to submit their problems to the hackathon and see what innovations the tech community develops to address them," said David Madden, founder of the initiative and Internews Strategy Advisor.

Code for Change Myanmar aims to harness the transformative potential of the opening up of Myanmar’s telecommunications market. Madden is a Yangon-based entrepreneur with a long history of using technology for social innovation. The project is supported by Internews, an international NGO, which says its mission is to empower people through better access to media and information.

The Business Solutions Hackathon is sponsored by Internews, USAid, Ooredoo, IdeaBox, Singtech, Nescafe and Red Bull.

“Myanmar’s connectivity revolution creates big opportunities for businesses. Technology can dramatically improve their efficiency and productivity. The purpose of this event is to get Myanmar’s best developers together to build technology products that are going to help Myanmar businesses be more successful,” said Madden.

This is the second event following the first one in March, where Myanmar developers participated to show their talents.

Members of the technology business are also being encouraged to apply to participate and to again show off their talents.

Ko Arkar Min Aung, iOS developer for NEX and the spokesperson for NILBUG, the team that won the hackathon in March, said: “The last hackathon was one of the best weekends of my life. We learnt a lot, had great fun coding together with my team members and built a cool product. We are excited about the upcoming hackathon and we hope that all the other developers and designers join this hackathon”.

Virginia Murray, deputy chief of mission for the US Embassy, noted that small and medium enterprises are crucial for the growth and development that will help move Myanmar forward and enable it to integrate into the Asean economy.

“We hope that this event will show the potential for businesses to use technology to accelerate this growth”.

Applications to participate in the hackathon or to submit a problem, as well as additional information can be found at
www.CodeForChangeMyanmar.org www.CodeForChangeMyanmar.org and
www.facebook.com/CodeForChangeMyanmar www.facebook.com/CodeForChangeMyanmar.