TwitterFacebookRSS Feed
The story to be told – The Geekulcha Hackathon 2015!!

The story to be told – The Geekulcha Hackathon 2015!!

It was razzmatazz, indeed it was. The Geeks were out in numbers to
attend and participate in this year’s Geekulcha Hackathon with the aim to provide business and social solutions using technical skills. Geekulcha was sponsored by the likes of T-Systems, City of Tshwane, Intel, IBM, Redbull, Standard bank, mLab Southern Africa, Northern Cape Department Economic Development and Tourism, Kalapeng Pharmacies, Empire State, Google Developer Group Pretoria, FABU Health, Communica, and Build.

It was during the freezing weekend of the 26th to 28th in Midrand, at
T-Systems South Africa, where computer programming was the name of game. The Geeks, as they call themselves, were using collaborative IT efforts to bring solutions brought forward by the sponsors with skills ranging from programmers, designers, robotics and input from aspiring entrepreneurs. The participants were from universities and high schools.

The attendance of females at tech events is on the rise. It is important to realize that hackathons are not limited to gents. The Geeks had an abundance of fun. There was a variety of expertise and it was a great networking opportunity. There was a PlayStation for breaks, good music playing in the background and the food was AMAZING. The purpose of this hackathon was to consider not only the delivery of a working solution but considering the commerciality of the solution being provided. Geekulcha aims to instil an entrepreneurial mind in the youth and develop both business and IT skills.

On Friday night, the Geeks separated into groups and selected their projects which were later pitched to all participants. The main objective of the projects was to have social and business impact. Projects ranged from health, vehicle safety, logistics, gambling, and electronics to assist farming communities etc.

On Saturday, different speakers shared insightful topics and apps with the Geeks.

Sunday was an exciting day as it is the time everyone was waiting for, presentation time. The Geeks were working on 21 different projects. A panel of judges consisting of various organizations and sponsors judged the projects on Innovation, impact (social and economical), market potential and scalability of the project.

The winning team addressed the challenge of getting people to clean their environment. They used platforms such as IoT in marking their smart bin much smarter. The runners up were close behind addressing a smart car that alerts nearest hospitals in cases of accidents through the utilization of IoT Technologies and electronics sensors.

The prizes won are as follows:

  • Smart Bin (R3500 shopping voucher from Geekulcha, opportunity to pitch at mLab and speak at Tech4Africa)

  • Mobi Electro (Exhibition at Tech4Africa and R1000 voucher from GDG Pretoria)

  • Synergy and Handi Connect (R500 voucher from GDG Pretoria and Geekulcha)

  • GeekIn project to be adapted at the next Geekulcha hackathon taking place TUT 25-26 July

  • Ultimate GeekStar: Neo from Handi Connect

The Geekulcha Hackathon 2015 was made possible by the great support Geekulcha received by all the partners and sponsors. Mixo thanked the sponsors for showing enormous trust and faith in the work Geekulcha is doing.

" You can't ignore the Geeks forever " #‎iBlameGK‬ #GKHack2015 #HireGeeks‬