Coronavirus: Innovators come together on CODE19 Online Hackathon to help solve COVID-19 pandemic

surbhiApril 11, 2020

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As the number of COVID-19 cases rises in India, the Indian startup ecosystem and aspiring entrepreneurs are coming together to innovate solutions to fight the global health crisis. In a bid to help India fight the coronavirus pandemic, Silicon-Valley-based Motwani Jadeja Family Foundation, a non-profit global venture fund, opened the first day of its CODE19 Online Hackathon on Saturday, April 11.

According to the official statement, the three-day event has successfully begun its first day with 6,000 innovators and developers from India and across the globe, who have come together to develop open-source solutions against the coronavirus crisis. The winning innovations, which will be announced on April 21, 2020, will be awarded funds to support their ideas.

“CODE19 is an attempt to create a concerned community of hackers, mentors, domain experts, and socially-conscious citizens to enable India’s fight against COVID-19. We have been completely overwhelmed by the response from thousands of people, especially the youth, from all corners of the country towards this hackathon. Their enthusiasm is palpable,” said Asha Jadeja Motwani, Founder, Motwani Jadeja Family Foundation.

The online hackathon has been organised in partnership with HackerEarth, TiE Mumbai, IAMAI Startup Foundation, Mumbai Angels Network, Association of Designers of India, Stumagz, GirlScript, National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad), IIT Kharagpur, and Centre for Entrepreneurship – Ashoka University.

Crisis-led innovation

According to Asha, the online hackathon comprises participants who are looking to collaborate and develop tech solutions to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
The ideas and innovations which will be developed by the participants will be open-sourced and will be available for scaling and implementation across the country.
Apart from India, innovators from other countries such as the US, Bangladesh, Germany, UAE, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Italy, New Zealand, Canada, China, and France, among many others are also participating in the online hackathon.
Currently, a total of 1,142 innovative ideas have been submitted by the participants which majorly revolve around the themes of open innovation for coronavirus; social life, welfare, and awareness; healthcare and medication; education and awareness; research and development; and travel/tourism and industry.
Almost 100 mentors are working with the teams to help them materialise their innovative ideas and guide them in building the products.

What is in there for innovators?

According to the official statement, a total of $34,000 has been earmarked as prize money for the winning innovations.
The participants across the globe will be competing with each other for the funds to build their innovative products. The winner of the first prize will be awarded $10,000 and the second prize winner will receive $5,000.
The third prize will be divided into three categories, where each team will receive $3,000. Apart from this, the 10 best innovative solutions will be awarded $1,000 each.

Source: Yourstory