OREANDA-NEWS. September 26, 2016. The enthusiasts of the IT area and people with innovative spirit have met in Chisinau Smart City hackathon – an event organized by the Association of ICT companies in partnership with the Ministry ITC and other concerned agencies and companies.

The purpose of the event was to promote and support the innovation and technology in order to improve the life in urban areas and encourage young people to be more active in identifying stringent urban problems and challenges and transform them into effective mobile and web applications meant to significantly improve the living of the city residents.

The competition started on Friday, the day on which the participants socialized. Then, they communicated the concept of the project they were going to work on and formed teams.

Attending the event, the Deputy Minister of Information Technology and Communications Vitalie Tarlev mentioned that “Traditionally, the MITC supports this type of activities, which involve young people in promoting the ICT innovations and solutions in various areas. The topic chosen for the event is a special one: We all want changes in the traditional urban area, but these changes and unusual solutions can come, first of all, from those, who are familiar with the new technologies, those who live in this city and have a creative mindset.”

Participating teams experienced the whole process of integrating a solution into the social practice, beginning with the generation of the idea and ending with the development of a prototype, including the implementation plan and well-defined strategy. During the work process the participants were guided by mentors from the Republic of Moldova and abroad with experience in public administration, information technology and communications, construction, transport, infrastructure development, etc.

After two days of work, the young people presented their concepts of projects in various areas such as developing a platform for the authorities to facilitate the receipt of messages from Chisinau residents. Another participant team focused on creating an application based on the connection of the users and transport units to a joint server, using geolocation data (GPS) etc.

4 best projects from the 7 participating were awarded by the event partners and provided with support in the development and subsequent implementation of the projects.

Chisinau Smart City Hackathon was organized by the National Association of the ICT Companies and Tekwil with the support of the United States Agency for the International Development (USAID) within the Project for the Development of Centre of Excellence in ICT, and private partners.