Georgetown: The Ministry of Public Telecommunications has formally launched its first Hackathon for programmers or coders to compete to develop applications for possible use in the public and private sectors. The 48-hour event began Friday. It is a collaborative venture with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GTT) Company.
In an invited comment at the launch at the Arthur Chung Conference Center (ACCC) on Thursday, Minister of Public Telecommunications, Cathy Hughes, said that the event is aimed at spurring innovation.
She further noted that it is not just an exercise, as actual programmes can be used by a real life company or government agency.
Further, it’s an opportunity for the programmers to be creative and to earn money from their ICT skills.
Coordinator of the Hackathon, Lance Hinds, said that the idea is to get persons to come out and show their talents. The event “drives our policy in terms of the kind of things we need to do to move the ICT sector forward. Many people showed interest in the Hackathon; there is even a team participating from Suriname.”
A member from Team Code Ups from Suriname said he looks forward to working with Guyanese programmers and to see how best they can integrate with other countries. They look forward to building relationships, so as to better technology businesses, he said.
Rowen Willabus, a member of local team Intellect Storm, said they recently won a competition in Jamaica, and he was looking forward to the community growing from this, and for persons to see Guyanese talents displayed.
The first prize is $300,000, the second prize $200,000 and the third prize $150,000.
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