From July 13-15, 2017, the Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF) will be hosting a hackathon event tagged ‘Hack for Good’ at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli, Anambra state. The hackathon is a design and prototype challenge where 25 participants will compete by developing usable prototypes that can solve real-world problems in their communities.

The hackathon also gives participants the opportunity to win prizes and have access to the latest 3D printing hardware, software, Internet of Things development platforms, tools and industry experts. This year’s theme is ““Connect, Collaborate, Create for Good” and, according to YTF, the goal of the 2017 hackathon is for the participants to “create mockups or prototypes of products, services and ideas that are able to generate social and economic value for the community by hacking common objects and using open data, public APIs, frameworks for fast prototyping and software development, micro-controllers, sensors, and 3D Printers.”

A young man building a prototype drone. Credit: 3D Africa/YTF
A young man building a prototype drone. Credit: 3D Africa/YTF

The 25 participants will focus on solving problems in the areas of payments, education, health, agriculture and security. Ten of the participants (5 each) are from the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering fields, 4 are from Mechanical Engineering, 3 from Bioengineering, and 1 from Chemical Engineering, while the remaining 7 are from different fields. 40 percent of them are focusing on problems in Agriculture, while 20 percent are focusing on Health, and 16 percent on Security.

The hosting of this hackathon in Anambra state also shifts the attention of the tech community away from Lagos (precisely, Yaba) for a while, as the Southwestern city-state has grown to become the poster community for new technology in Nigeria. The aim of this challenge, according to the organisers, is “to develop the world’s next best innovation, transforming the continent from ‘Aid to Africa’ to ‘Made in Africa.’

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