Muttrah could soon benefit from the digital revolution

Muscat: Residents can help to transform the city of Muttrah into a smart city, officials from The Research Council (TRC) said.

TRC is hosting a first of its kind Smart City hackathon where residents including academics, students, and professionals will get together to develop best solutions for the historic district of Muttrah.

This hackathon is the first phase of Muscat Municipality and TRC's initiative to revamp the district.

“Smart City has many different definitions. It is an evolving topic and we understand this at TRC. It affects everyone including, industries, academia and residents. Therefore we thought we must allow the public to help us in transforming a district like Muttrah that has so many features like heritage, residency and tourism attached to it,” Dr. Ali Al Shidhani, Head of Research at The Research Council said.

Dr. Al Shidhani said that the hackathon will see participants suggesting and developing ideas that will act as a digital layer over Muttrah city and not include any big budget infrastructural changes.

“We want to make use of data and mobile applications for better decision making. We plan to utilise the digital revolution to provide innovative services,” he added.

Although there is no deadline for implementation of the plans, the city is likely to get a major boost in digital and public infrastructure that will improve living environment for residents and make it more tourist-friendly.

The registration for Hackathon is now open and will close on 12th October 2017. The hackathon day will be on third and fourth of November 2017, preceded by orientation and explanation of targets to participants. A team of two to four members is required to compete in the competition. One member must be able to code or develop applications and software.