Hackathoners walk away with nearly OMR10,000 prize money

Muscat: Seven teams walked away with nearly OMR10,000 in prize money during a recent hackathon in Muscat.
Featuring students, computer programmers, and coders, over 200 people competed in the National Bank of Oman (NBO) Annual Hackathon.
The event challenged participants to present futuristic banking solutions to a panel of judges. Their ideas were evaluated on four main criteria including business value, innovation, a user-friendly experience, and prototype readiness.
Al Sayyid Wasfi bin Jamshid Al Said, Acting CEO of NBO, said, “The hackathon provided us with a unique opportunity to stay connected with the next generation of users, whilst being offered a fresh perspective on the role of technology in our daily lives. To stay ahead of the curve, we need to remain agile, resourceful, and learn fast.”
Most participants were under the age of 25.
The acting CEO added, “It is so exciting to see so much talent all under one roof, our roof. Platforms such as this mobilise collective intelligence and unleash the skills, creativity and passion of forward thinkers. They allow us to reimagine the future of banking. This inspirational round-the-clock experience plays an instrumental role in exploring new horizons in our evolving industry and advancing the way in which we think, work, and serve our customers.”
This year’s award categories included the “School Student Challenge”, the “College Student Challenge”, and the “Professionals Challenge”.
Team iWays won first place in the School Student Challenge, earning OMR1,500 for a solution that solves traffic congestion utilising existing radar cameras and streetlights.
Team D & D won the College Student Challenge and OMR2,000 for a solution that facilitates sign language to text conversion, allowing the hearing impaired to converse. Team biter twitter took home the second place, winning a cash prize of OMR1,500 and team C.A.R.D won the third place with OMR1,000.
In the “Professionals Challenge”, IT professionals and start-ups battled for the OMR2,000 prize.
Team Banky emerged as the category’s winners for creating a service that provides loans using blockchain technology. Team Paywheel finished second in the category, winning OMR1,000. Team smartpay claimed the third place and the OMR500 reward.