So far it has held two hackathons oriented towards agriculture and now it is preparing, together with the Banco de Previsión Social, to carry out one that innovates in the strengthening of social security and social security in Uruguay.
The Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technology (Cuti), together with the Social Security Bank (BPS), will organize, for the first time, the "Hackathon Social Security - BPS", an initiative that is part of the 50th anniversary of the social security institution and the 25th anniversary of the integration of Social Representatives in the Board of Directors. More than two hundred people are expected to participate in the Kibón Avanza space on November 4 and 5.
The term "hackathon" comes from the union of two Anglo-Saxon words: hacker and marathon, and refers to a person who takes a subject and solves it quickly in a limited time.
The meeting, which will be open competition and free of charge, is designed for teams of three or four people that can be composed of researchers, entrepreneurs, experts in information technology, citizens and organizations interested in the subject.
Among the objectives of this competition are the development of innovative solutions that add value to current real social problems in Uruguay, the promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation to strengthen the welfare and social security of Uruguay, the promotion of collaborative work, the strengthening of multidisciplinary work between industry, academia and government, among others.
During two days of work you will have to develop a business model and a minimum viable product or prototype to solve some of the problems of the BPS sector through the use of technology.
Some of the challenges will be along the lines of how to bring the BPS closer to the people using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), how the latter can help in assisting different segments of the population, transparency for citizens to identify the destination and benefits of their contributions to society, how to reduce informal work and how ICT can help in a disease prevention system.
Anyone over 15 years of age can participate. At the same time, the participating teams will have access to national and international mentors in the different topics of the creation and management of companies and enterprises, as well as technical and computer advice in the field of social security and social security. The winning ideas will have their corresponding prize ranging from a ticket to an international fair to technology.
The tools we are looking for
The president of CUTI, Leonardo Loureiro, in conversation with CRÓNCAS, recalled the words of Gustavo Roque Villamil, director of Information Technology of the BPS during the launch of this Hackathon and commented: "The BPS is known for the technologies it uses, for being quite creative and restless and for worrying about reinventing itself every day. One of the things we wanted, as Roque mentioned, is to incorporate something different and innovative into the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the BPS".
He also mentioned that the teams should be integrated with diverse profiles ranging from technology and society, through trade unions and companies, always with knowledge so that they can reach a successful conclusion.
Although it was originally planned that participants could present themselves as a company, in the end it was decided to participate independently. In any case, all teams will have the possibility to use the technology of CUTI partner companies that will be made available.
These tools will be presented in a "prehackathon" that will take place days before the marathon, in a way that will allow competitors to learn about the technology at hand and enter better positioned the day of the event.
Both the winning idea, as well as those that do not win the first prize but the jury decides that it is an interesting solution, will be evaluated to determine if they can be implemented.
"It could very well be a very interesting idea that the BPS is interested in carrying out, so obviously we will have to analyze it and look for a mechanism to execute it," said Loureiro, and added: "one of the things we want to do is that if there is an innovative idea, to look for the mechanisms to make it happen".
Rural ICTs
The field also had its hackathon. It was the second edition of Hackathon Agro that took place at Expo Prado, organized by the Cuti, the Rural Association of Uruguay (ARU), the British Embassy and the da Vinci Foundation. During the event, four ideas related to the rural sector were presented and had to be solved in 48 hours through the implementation of technology.
One of the particularities of this event was that participants could have first hand access to rural producers to consult on any issues they considered relevant.
The winning team was composed of Agustín Ackermann, Juan Francisco Kniazev and Carlos Capano, who devised the most efficient way to prevent leaf spot problems in barley nets.
The second place was won by the group formed by María Inés Álvarez, Ignacio Figueredo and Marcelo Ortega, with a project that presented an irrigation platform, which provides producers with information that allows them to choose the right time to irrigate and the amount of water to use. The third winning team, which consisted of Fabiana Mautone, Javier Rodríguez and Renzo Mayer, proposed home automation solutions for virtual fencing.
The president of the CUTI assured that they will continue to carry out the Hackathon Agro during the coming years since they seek with them to begin to incorporate ICT to various areas of activity. In this line was that he said: "we want to bring knowledge and innovation through multidisciplinary teams to different sectors of the country. What we are looking for is an issue of awareness that, through inventiveness, can be achieved".
A way of mainstreaming
Asked about the preparation of the participants in the hackathons, Loureiro commented that although at the beginning "it's hard for them", they are not afraid of the subject and they dive into it. "People put a lot of energy into trying to find a solution to the chosen challenge," he said. On the other hand, he commented that "they are always open" to carry out a competition of these characteristics with some social actor to incorporate ICT.
Loureiro pointed out that the chamber is oriented to transversality, as technologies are increasingly integrated into business and social activities. "We want to raise awareness for mainstreaming through innovation. The idea is to work on these kinds of things so that different actors see the incorporation of technology as a way to improve their situation, whether in business or in issues that benefit all citizens," he said.
Negative unemployment
The president of the CUTI said that the sector that integrates the chamber has "negative unemployment", meaning that companies can not take more projects to carry them forward because they do not have the people to help them to complete them. "We don't have the people to be able to execute them," he confirmed.
The problem lies, in his opinion, in the fact that not many people see the attraction of working in an area of technology. "Perhaps it is a problem of communication from us, but it is also associated with the choice of young people in the career they study. It is important that they understand that one of the careers with the best working future, unquestionably, is the information technology sector," he said.
Source: Crónicas
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