Jazz SDG Hackathon 2018 | Event

With its commitment to a “Digital Pakistan”, Jazz continues to focus on the development of the digital ecosystem of Pakistan. From the 7^th till the 9^th of December, 2018, an SDG hackathon was held at the National Incubation Center, Islamabad, in collaboration with Code for Pakistan and OPEN Islamabad. 144 entrepreneurs, innovators, coders, and social scientists were given a platform to create innovative solutions to civic and social problems. In turn, Jazz created an enabling digital environment for the solutions, by providing services including location API and JazzCash payment.

As per the 2018 SDG Index and Dashboards report, Pakistan currently ranks at 126 out of the 156 countries surveyed for their distance to achieving the SDGs by 2030.

“Pakistan ranks behind most countries in South Asia when it comes to Human Development indicators and attaining SDGs. The idea of such initiatives is to support the government in solving these challenges,” said Ali Naseer Chief Corporate & Regulatory Affairs Officer at Jazz. “We are looking towards young, innovative minds to come together through the Jazz SDG Hackathon and showcase how technology can be used for the greater good.”

During the three day event, participants learned about design thinking, open-source hacking for social good, and were mentored by domain experts in government and local organizations. They also networked with peers, and worked in teams to create prototypes of their solutions. The top three teams were:-

1. Project Smart Bra for Early Detection of Breast Cancer
2. Liquid Impurity Detector Technology in 7 seconds
3. Dost – Hum Sab Ka – A support community for mental illness

Overall, the event helped to create awareness on prevalent social problems covered under the selected SDGs. Check out the highlights of the event below.