‘Hack:bit 2020’ aims to bring ideas of school and university students to life

Hack:bit 2020, a virtual national hackathon for school and university students in Sri Lanka, organised by STEMUp Educational Foundation, is all set to bring the creative ideas of young Sri Lankans to life.

University students below the age of 28 as well as school students below the age of 19 are eligible to enter Hack:bit 2020. Hack:bit 2020 is currently accepting innovations under several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Good Health and Well Being, Life on Lands, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate Actions, Quality Education and Decent Work as well as Economic Growth. The acceptance of submissions, which commenced on 1 July, will close on 15 August. The semi-finals are to take place on 20 September with the grand finals and awards ceremony to be held on 30 September, where the winners will be announced. 

All Hack:bit participants are given the freedom to use any preferred tools and programming languages to develop their innovative product. Contestants should form a team with two or three team members from the same school or university in order to participate. An expert panel of judges will evaluate all entries. Judging criteria will take into account a number of key factors including uniqueness, innovativeness, implementation, business value and sustainability. One of the key highlights is that all participants will have the opportunity to work closely with industry experts in order to obtain their valuable insights and further improve on their ideas. From the initial contestants, a shortlisted list of five school teams and five university teams will be invited to the final round and awards ceremony. Exclusive prizes will be awarded for the first, second and third places in both categories (school and university). Additionally, there will be four special prizes for the ‘Best Micro:bit-based Implementation’, ‘Best Arduino-based implementation’, ‘Best scratch-based implementation’, and ‘Best MIT App Inventor-based implementation’. 

Expressing his views, STEMUP Educational Foundation Director Prabhath Mannapperuma commented: “We are excited to put together Hack:bit 2020 following the success of Hack:bit 2018. This is the second time we are organising this highly-anticipated national level hackathon for school students and university undergraduates. It provides a platform for them to showcase their creativity and innovations through a disruptive product. It has a lot to do with exploration and experimentation for the participants who will brainstorm to develop an idea into a successful real-world product. 

“They will gain immensely from the whole experience as they compete with each other to come out on top. Insights from industry experts will educate them on how and why they need to keep on asking the right questions and pushing the boundaries in order to succeed.”

The STEMUp Foundation is a non-governmental organisation whose mission is to inspire and engage students to become interested in pursuing scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) degrees and careers. 

The organisation’s mission is fulfilled through the programs and resources they offer to the South Asian community. The Foundation has educational opportunities and resources for all. Most of its resources are also offered free-of-charge as a part of the vision of becoming a national model for passionate support for STEM education.

The first-ever Hack:bit, titled ‘Hack:bit 2018’, was held two years ago, making history as the first-ever 24-hour national-level Micro:bit-based hackathon. Hack:bit 2018 was organised by micro:bit SLUG, a child organisation of the STEMUp Educational Foundation. For the pre-hack, more than 80 submissions were received. At the final round held at the Trace Expert City, the best three innovations in the school category together with the best three innovations in the university category were selected and presented with awards following detailed evaluations by an experienced panel of judges.