Telenor Pakistan\u2019s Digital Accelerator Program, Telenor Velocity, launched a hackathon, earlier this year, in collaboration with Google Developers, and UNDP Pakistan. The aim of this \u2018Digital Hackfair\u2019 was to find the best developers and get them to build impactful solutions using Google\u2019s open-source Flutter toolkit. The grand finale happened at Telenor Pakistan\u2019s Campus 345 and was attended by Google, UNDP Pakistan Innovation Acc-Lab\u2019s team and Telenor Pakistan\u2019s management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u2018Digital Hackfair\u2019 received applications from over 570 app developers from across Pakistan including Islamabad, Jacobabad, Karachi, Peshawar, Haripur and Lahore among others. After a rigorous shortlisting process, around 50 apps were submitted contributing towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including FinTech, Connectivity, Agriculture, Gender, Education, Health, and Environment & Safety. 14 apps were shortlisted to pitch at the Grand Finale that happened at Telenor Pakistan\u2019s Campus and top three apps won a total of PKR 600,000 in prize money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis Digital Hackfair aiming at digitizing solutions for sustainable development goals is proof of our commitment towards the ambition of Digital Pakistan\u201d said Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO Telenor Pakistan and Head of Emerging Asia Cluster Telenor Group. \u201cThrough this initiative, we were successfully able to rally young, energetic and talented individuals to gather and develop state of the art solutions for socio-economic progress. Through initiatives like these and public-private collaborations, we hope to continue giving our youth the opportunities to become changemakers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe silver lining of Pakistan\u2019s growing population is its youth with 60% of them are under the age 30\u201d said Sardar Mohammad Abubakr, Chief Digital and Strategy Officer, Telenor Pakistan. \u201cAt Telenor Pakistan, we envision to equip our youth with the right technological tools and skills to build a Digital Pakistan. This also reinforces our commitment to contribute towards UN\u2019s Sustainable Development Goals through technological advancement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking on the development, Tania Aidrussaid in a message, \u201cPakistan is a country with immense talent and I\u2019m happy to see Telenor Pakistan, Google, and UNDP Pakistan coming together to harness this potential. This Digital Hackfair is an example of giving a platform to our youth for constructive engagement and economic empowerment. Digitization is the future of Pakistan and only by developing a strong ecosystem of solutions in multiple domains can we achieve this ambition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Digital Hackfair opened for applications in January 2020 for developers to use the power of code and build solutions using Google\u2019s Flutter technology. Flutter aims to provide a framework for creating user experiences without compromise on any device or form factor and this is the first time a hackathon of this magnitude happened in the country while using this technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n