18 reasons why #IAmKarachi Innovation Challenge was Mother of all Hacks

Last weekend, Habib University hosted Karachi’s biggest hackathon, the IAmKarachi Innovation Challenge. The event was launched by the IAmKarachi consortium in collaboration with Pakistan Innovation Foundation, sponsored by the Karachi Youth Initiative with Nest I/O as its incubation partner. The hackathon aimed at fostering a culture of creating a society that welcomes innovators and problem solvers with open arms. The problem statements were divided into 5 categories: education, health, law and security, transport and environment, and arts, culture and sports.

The participating teams were mentored, trained and guided over a course of three days to refine their ideas. Out of more than 900 individuals, only 130 teams and 40 individuals were able to successfully make for the second round. After further shortlisting on the second day and third day, 5 winners from each category and 2 wild card entries were selected to present for the winning titles. The winners will be supported by various organizations in collaboration with IAmKarachi consortium to kickstart their innovations.

1. 369 teams and 958 individuals registered for the event testifying that the youth of Karachi has stood up to take ownership of the city.

2. Arts & culture is as crucial for a survival of the city as security, health and education.

3. The mentors made sure that what started just as an idea on day one, turned into a completely executable plan for the city just in 48 hours!

4. The participants were implored to develop solutions that are affordable for the elitist but also the underprivileged of the city.

5. One of the winning projects, Baithak has proven that you do not necessarily need technology & automation to make a successful innovation. The project focused on promoting the culture of each region through community events.

6. Mr. Naeem Zamindar mesmerized the young audience by telling his incredible journey from young days to where he now stands.

7. Mentors’ advice is a valuable gem that can make your innovation more successful than mere funding.

8. The diverse pool of mentors and jury members from fields of education, health, technology, law and arts made sure that teams were thinking in the right direction.

9. One of the winning projects made sure that the education of children with special needs is not ignored so they are also capable to work as active citizens of the society.

10. Mr. Athar Osama being the daily champ and guiding participants all three days, to hone their products to be more sustainable and applicable for the city.

11. The organizers made sure that Sabeen Mahmud is remembered and her mission is taken forward. One of the prizes were named after her. Team Axon won the Sabeen Mahmud Prize for the Most Innovative Civic Hack.

12. Young females of Karachi actively participated in the hackathon. One of the winning teams 2Square was an all girls team. Girl power, FTW!

13. Even a transport strike cannot break the spirits of Karachiites who are on a mission to transform the city of lights.

14. The awesome presentation given by Faris Khalid, taught the participants how to improvise and cover all bases in a presentation.

15. You know you are a geek on a mission to bring social change when you see prototypes of drones, robots, and people setting up Oculus and Kinect in the Hackathon Hall just to bring a constructive change in the city.

16. The generation gap has indeed lessened and our youth is ready to learn from the experience of veterans and the industrial gurus are keen to nurture the ideas of the young.

17. When you unconsciously fell in love with your city, its people and its eccentricities.

18. The event had a kick ass social media team that made sure #khiinnovates was among the top 4 trends on Twitter.

Image Credits: Pakistan Innovation Foundation Facebook Page