Madhapur: Covid online hackathon from March 29 to 31

Madhapur: The Covid-19 Hackathon hosted by Telangana Information Technology Association (TITA) on March 22, to coincide with the Janata Curfew call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has evoked good response from the local as well as international techies. In all, the event has seen 836 registrations including from 13 countries.

TITA Global President Sundeep Kumar Makthala said that from the entries received about 136 ideas have been shortlisted and from these the list has been pruned to 17. These ideas are likely to have a societal impact. From these, top three ideas will receive cash awards and support for further development.

Giving out the details on the kind of ideas that have come, Makthala said a participant Ramya from Wanaparthy suggested mapping and creating a network of local doctors and asking the local people to reach out to them in case of cold, fever or other symptoms associated with coronavirus. Info about suspect cases should be relayed to the government authorities for taking necessary action.

In another case, Dinesh worked on an automatic hand washer and this will cost about Rs 400. Another candidate, Ravikiran, suggested a smart mask that will auto-identify the infected persons moving around and alert the authorities. He is awaiting the input of virus identification from known experts. There is also a suggestion to build a chatbot for coronavirus FAQs in regional languages.

Makthala said enthused by the good response it got for the hackathon, TITA is planning to host its second round on March 29, 30 and 31. The registrations will begin March 25 and will go on till March 28.

Those interested to be part of the event can register @ bit.ly/CoronaHackathon (or) contact 8123123434. The hackathon will be held by TITA in association with the Technology Innovation and Incubation Centre (TIIC) and the Government of Telangana.