MTN to host 2019 TADHack Johannesburg

MTN today announced the return of TADHack Johannesburg from 12-13 October 2019 at the MTN Innovation Centre Campus. This marks the fourth consecutive year of the global hackathon.

TADHack runs simultaneously in more than 30 locations and encourages young creative minds to build solutions to problems using telecoms and other application programming interfaces (API). Prize money of $1 000 is awarded to the winning solution.

The 2019 TADHack theme is: "Localised and contextualised - battle of the bots".

"TADHack offers an engaging way for us to unlock the creative and innovative talent that already exists in SA. It brings together our entrepreneurs, budding technologists and community ambassadors to leverage technology to solve the pressing issues we face as a country. We cannot think of a better expression of MTN's commitment to the future of SA," says MTN's Chief Information Officer, Phinda Ncala.

The teams are judged on how they use the resources available to them, which include a range of APIs and content from global and local TADHack sponsors. User-centricity is a key factor as the solution needs to actively involve the users and put them at the forefront of the solution. And don't forget about the 'wow' factor that's needed.

TADHack 2018 Johannesburg was hosted at the MTN head offices and had 175 participants with 40 projects submitted. Crime prevention and healthcare were among the areas of interest. The solution that emerged as the winner at TADHack 2018 Johannesburg was #SkratchLab. The mobile application uses artificial intelligence (AI), push notifications and location services to send distress signals to authorities or family when a mobile device is shaken, or a panic button is pressed either in an event of criminal activity or an emergency.

For more information, you can visit the Web site: http://tadhack.mtn.co.za.