Telenor is bringing Pakistan’s first ever IoT based hackathon

Pakistan’s first ever IoT-based hackathon is happening in Lahore, later this week.

Telenor, one of the leading telecom services provider in Pakistan, has partnered with Plan9 and DIY Geeks to bring a hackathon on the Internet of Things-based devices. The competition, which is scheduled to take place later this week, will invite participants from all across Pakistan providing them the opportunity to showcase their IoT projects in a fairly competitive hackathon.

The competition will encourage participants to showcase their products. Also, throughout the course of the event, the participants will be given live technical and business mentorship. Different business mentors would sit with every team and help them in improving their business models. As the event will unfold towards its second day, a panel discussion on IoT will also be conducted to make startups better aware of this cutting-edge domain.

Telenor, Plan9 and DIY Geeks have geared to make this the best ever competition of the domain and are bringing together the best mentors, judges and speakers that they could find from the industry and from Pakistan’s IoT community. The event will take place at Arfa Software and Technology Part Lahore and is going to span over a total of two days, starting from 4th of May.

Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the cutting edge fields defining how the future living ecosystem would look like. Alternatively, this can be thought of as a network of devices that are connected to the internet all around us and are being controlled remotely and smartly. Smartphones, smartwatches, smart televisions and now the smart speakers, all fall in this category. When it comes to the IoT infrastructure of Pakistan, Telenor has been playing a critical role. Except for this hackathon which is soon going to be organized, Telenor is also famous for its IoT platform, Managed IoT Cloud solution, that can work with any type of connectivity technologies.

Waqar Nayyar, Head of IoT Telenor said this while explaining the unique opportunities, this IoT hackathon has to offer “Hackathon is a good opportunity for Startups to showcase their ideas and receive valuable feedback by experts. In addition, Startups would get training on Telenor MIC (Managed IoT Cloud) Platform, which is one of the most advanced, user friendly, scalable and affordable IoT Platforms in the market today and when coupled with local support and services of a Telecom player it offers unbeatable value. The platform allows IoT developers to easily connect Things and get their solutions working in no time. Telenor Pakistan is currently offering a select group of IoT startups from Pakistan free trial of its Platform.”

Durdana Achakzai, Chief Digital Officer at Telenor Pakistan earlier on said “I believe we have a central role to play when it comes to the development of IoT ecosystem in the country. Being one of the first movers in the local IoT space we are more actively focused on preparing the country for the next industrial leap by providing thought & technology leadership around IoT and removing barriers to adoption and growth.”

As far as the perks to take part in this competition are concerned, Telenor is offering free 6-month access to Telenor IoT Platform to all of the participants. Training as to how this project can effectively be used will also follow. Apart from this, the competition also packs winning prizes amounting to Rs. 200,000. The exceptional teams will also be entitled to top quality technical and business mentorship. They will also get a chance to qualify for Telenor IoT Partner Program through which Telenor Pakistan would be taking their IoT solutions to top corporations in Pakistan.

In order to register for this competition, the interested startups and products can go to this link and fill out the registration form. It might be noted that, in order to avoid any hassle afterward, the participants are required to bring all the supporting hardware with themselves.