Azernews.Az

By Leman Mammadova

AZCLOUD Hackathon 2019 international competition, which is being held at Baku Olympic Stadium, opens up opportunity for many professionals to present themselves, their projects, as well as to attract potential talented young people to their teams.

The event, organized by AzInTelecom under the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies in partnership with R.I.S.K, Azercell, TrendMicro and Bestcomp, will be held until August 30.

Twenty teams, namely JetNails, Avanti, Espresso Team, Coffee Jar, Sooners, Simplify, 24/7, Just Amateurs, Binary Beats, CodeRun, Bottom text, Salam, Heaps don’t lie, 45 minutes, Code fathers, Good Fellas, Guardians, The Unknowns, Adroit and Novum Juniors, participate in the competition. The selection was conducted on July 1-31 among 59 teams.

The use of innovations and the latest technologies is important in the development of all areas of the economy in Azerbaijan, said Ramin Guluzade, Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, at the opening of Hackathon competition.

“The government pursues an economic policy aimed at implementing a model of innovative development, and the legal base is being improved in this direction,” he noted.

Guluzade stressed that Azerbaijan pays special attention to the improvement of the skills of business organization and management for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs and startups.

He also noted the importance of attracting the youth to innovative development. “Currently, there is a great demand for young people with innovative thinking.”

All conditions will be organized for the teams, said Jeyhun Aliyev, Deputy Chairman of AzInTelecom, at a press conference prior to the opening of the competition.

In his words, during the three-day event, the teams will have to provide solutions to the tasks set for them.

Ruslan Aliyev, representative of AzInTelecom, noted that the competition will allow the participants to gain good experience.

In turn, Rashad Azizov, head of Department of Innovative Development of Information Society and Electronic Governance of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, pointed out that interest in startup competitions is growing in Azerbaijan, and more organizations will be involved in this process in the future.

“Hackathons will provide products to participants in e-government, financial technology and other areas,” he said.

He further noted that the Hackaton competition will be held internationally, noting that the products offered at this competition will be exported abroad.

Hackathon 2019 winner team will receive a cash prize of 10,000 manats ($5,865). As part of the competition, premises (skyboxes) will be allocated for each team at the stadium to comfortably complete the technical task.

Hackathon is a team game in which like-minded people code for their innovative ideas. It is a workshop where participants work on the creation of programs, sites or applications in the two-day sprint mode. The goal of collaboration becomes the creation of sites and services for social projects.

In June 2019, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Country Office launched the first ever Inclusivity Hackathon in Azerbaijan, which brought together motivated representatives of the civil society, people with disabilities, young civic and technology enthusiasts.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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