ABU DHABI, 7th March, 2023 (WAM) -- The UAE Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) announced the names of the UAE Hackathon 2023 winners, which was held for the 6th consecutive year in all emirates of the UAE.

The UAE Hackathon is a part of the activities of Innovation Month, which falls in February.

Winners were announced in the UAE Hackathon closing ceremony, which was held at the Higher Colleges of Technology - Dubai, in the presence of Majid Sultan Al Mesmar, Director-General of TDRA; representatives of the participating government entities; TDRA’s partners from the private sector, and the contestants.

In his speech at the ceremony, Al Mesmar said, “Those young people believe that the real capital in today's world is not money or financial assets alone, but rather the innovative minds, that think in an analytical and critical way, and strive diligently and patiently to transform ideas into real initiatives and projects.”

He added, 'We in TDRA will continue to support the youth based on our belief that they are the real bet to create the desired future and in line with the vision of our wise leadership that the youth are the fuel of our progress and our hope to build a better future and strengthen the leadership of our country.”

The list of partners included UAE local digital governments, 10 federal and 15 local government entities, 9 national universities, and 9 private sector companies from the technology sector.

Al Mesmar thanked the Higher Colleges of Technology administration, staff and students for their constant support of the UAE Hackathon, and considered that support as a part of the hackathon success story.

He also thanked the Emirates Schools Establishment for encouraging school students to participate in the UAE Hackathon, giving the hackathon new momentum by adding a segment of young pupils.

22 projects from school students, 18 projects from university students, 17 projects from entrepreneurs, experts and employees, and 4 projects from researchers qualified for the UAE Hackathon finals. The total number of participants in the latest edition was 2,488 persons, who formed hundreds of teams, of which 311 teams reached the judging stage.

Abu Dhabi was ranked first in terms of the number of participants, followed by Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Qaiwain and Ajman in a row.

Top ten winning teams

In the school students track, the winning teams were Eduverse, UAE Happiness Centre Robot: Facial Expression Recognition ML Model, AIAL, Al Zawraa Innovators 3, Virtual Imam, Automated Recycling Box, Mohammed Bin Rashid School-1, Electricity from Desert, Elite Birds, and EHA (Emirati Heritage Application).

In the university students track, the winning teams included Sustainable Aquaponic, Mosef, Es3afa, Katara, Waffer, the Flybolans, A8, Miles Ahead, Roots, and the Quick Nerve Relaxation team).

In the Entrepreneurs, Experts and Employees track, the winning teams included Mental Life, Asma'ak: Sign Language Translator, Afia, Newlink, Trust Teaching, Co On, Smart Umm Al Quwain, Hassad, Front Line Innovators, and Ajman Municipality and Planning Department team.

TDRA presented winners with awards amounting to AED 400,000. Project incubation opportunities will be provided to the winners of the university student and entrepreneur tracks to start implementing their ideas and transform them into real projects that serve the government and private sectors.

The winner of the researchers track will be announced at the next GITEX Impact. 4 teams qualified in that track, and they include Expert Systems for Site Selection of Emergency Facilities, Smart Education, Droxide: Carbon Dioxide Redefined, University of Dubai Wireless Communications Research Lab).

The UAE Hackathon 2023, in its 6th edition, set a number of pillars inspired by the 'We Are the UAE 2031' vision. These pillars include consolidating national identity, protecting the environment, achieving principles of sustainability, developing the education system, vision, indicators and outputs, supporting international economic partnerships of the UAE, and accelerating Emiratisation. Those objectives would be implemented on basis of a variety of technologies that include blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data, data analysis, the Internet of Things, Metaverse, and augmented reality.

The UAE Hackathon aims to discover advanced and flexible solutions that meet the requirements of digital transformation, consolidate the principle of partnership with the private sector to achieve sustainable development goals, and enhance the support of knowledge and innovation. Furthermore, the UAE Hackathon aims to maximise youth competencies and refine the skills of the winners by integrating them with innovation centres, business accelerators and technology incubators to reach real prototypes and start-ups.

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