DOHA: Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) will host its first regional 24-hour hackathon from Friday at the university’s campus in Education City.
The CarnegieApps Hackathon is an annual programming competition for university students, where individuals and teams compete in a 24-hour race to build mobile and web applications or games.
This year students from the wider region will participate for the first time.
Sponsored by Ooredoo, the hackathon is organised by CarnegieApps, a student-led club at CMU-Q.
“We’re excited to host students from Qatar and the region for the first regional CarnegieApps Hackathon. It aims to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and creative thinking within a fun and intense competitive environment.
“It is an opportunity for students to put skills they are learning to the test,” said Farjana Salahuddin, information systems student at CMU-Q and member of the CarnegieApps organising committee.
The hackathon is part of CMU-Q’s contribution to the computer science industry in the country and the region to promote an interdisciplinary approach to developing innovative technological applications.
Yousuf Al Kubaisi, COO, Ooredoo Qatar, said, “We’re helping CMU-Q discover talented innovators, designers and developers in the region and hope to support the development of something truly innovative in Qatar.
“This is a chance for students to learn new skills, meet and work with new people and have their solutions judged by industry leaders,” Al Kubaisi added.
Participants will be judged in the categories of best technicality, best overall app and best design, along with the best rookie award.
Khalifa Saleh Al Haroon, Founder, ‘I Love Qatar’ and CEO, Haroon United Group; Ahmed Elmagarmid, Executive Director, Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI); Indica Amarasinghe, Head, Digital Incubation Centre, ictQatar; and Francisco Guzman, Computer Scientist, QCRI, will join the judging panel. For details about the hackathon, visit www.carnegieapps.com or follow #CMUQHacks.
The Peninsula
