HackaMENA 2015 Winner

Hackathon

Between April 2nd and April 4th the Hacka {MENA} was held in the heart of Dubai, UAE. If you thought programming and a hackathon denotes hacking into celebrity facebook and bank accounts, you need a quick cold shower. The Hacka {MENA} is a social impact Hackathon that brought some of the top innovative technopreneurs together to solve real problems facing the real world in less than 72 hours, equivalent to months of work in just a few hours. In other words the hashtag #hack4impact Simply meant that you had less than 72 hours to create thousands of lines of codes, fashion something spectacular and win a splendid top prize with Italy written all over it. When anything related to a “hackathon” is mentioned, what comes to mind is a bunch of teens cracking lines of codes to bring a site down or create something destructive. However, this was different. It was all about bringing a vision to be; coming up with positive and tangible impact in the shortest time possible for our current bleeding world.

Registration

Registration for the event was $100 and I was fortunate enough to sign up for the event a day before the event had started. Every programmer will tell you hackathons are delicious than chicken Shawarma and a blend of banana and strawberry or flirting with a lovely face over Al Machboos. Unlike anything I had done before I was presented with a chance to join a great team of programmers and bring an idea to be capable of transforming the lives of people we love. Yes, yes there was a lot of pizza and caffeine and that makes a lot of difference to a bunch of teams of serious code writers with hours to change the world. We had a chance to hack for 72 hours with unlimited deployments and thousands of lines of codes involved-the dream of any hacker practicing his trade somewhere in a garage on the other side of the world. You can be sure of a feeling of sheer ecstasy on crack.

Prizes

The winning team gonna get

1. Sponsored trip to the EXPO 2015!
2. A 3 months incubation and mentorship opportunity at In5 in Knowledge Village in Dubai.
3. Consultation from The D. GmbH
4. Mentorship and training from Sustainable Square within social impact and fundraising

Team Formation

I had a chance to join many other teams with great ideas, but the HeartPing idea was too overwhelming, considering the social impact such an app would have on the lives of people. Of course it is not related to loneliness, online dating or romance. HeartPing has however, everything to do with the heart. It is inspired by the fact that early CPR does enhance the flow of oxygen and blood to vital organs in the body, critical components in the treatment of cardiac arrest. If the brain is continuously provided with oxygenated blood, neurological damage risk is decreased. HeartPing is an emergency app that connects heart attack patients to CPR. 10 Ideas were shorlisted for hackathon to build and present their idea at the end there were more than 70 participants.

Winning Team

It was absolutely beautiful to see talented ladies and gentlemen getting down to business and creating some of the most exceptional tools with a great social impact potential. After thousands of lines of codes and poisoning our minds with caffeine as we munched on the most delicious pizza, the verdict was out. HeartPing team of four won the hackathon hands down and the grand prize was ours for the taking-free trip to the 2015 Milano Expo-perhaps even a chance to rush to the San Siro for some real Italian soccer to cheer on the pride of the City; AC Milan.

HeartPing

Press Release

• Cardiac emergency services app takes first prize at Dubai’s Hacka{MENA} - Wamda.com
• Dubai Internet City brings ‘Hackamena’ the Region’s First Social Impact Hackathon to Dubai - Zawya.com
• مدينة دبي للإنترنت تقدم “هاكامينا” للمرة الأولى في منطقة الشرق الأوسط - pal-forex.com