3D Africa HackForGood is a three-day design and prototyping contest that will provide young people from across Nigeria with access to cutting-edge technology, expert instruction, and world-class mentoring to empower them to develop a functional prototype that addresses the real-world needs of their communities. HackForGood provides university-age students, recent graduates, and early-stage entrepreneurs with the opportunity to develop the world’s next best innovation, transforming the mindset from “Aid to Africa” to “Made in Africa.”
As the world’s only Fourth Industrial Revolution innovation lab hosted in partnership with the education community and the private sector, HackForGood empowers youth to future-proof themselves by exposing them to emerging technologies like 3D printing, robotics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things so that they can become the innovators, job creators, and highly skilled employees that the future of work requires.
Over the course of 72 hours, participants work together in teams to ideate, design, and create a technological solution that has the potential to accelerate economic and social growth while forging meaningful partnerships. The prototypes developed at HackForGood have the capacity to be further developed into scalable solutions that can deliver global impact.
Teams of young innovators – including current students, recent graduates, start-up entrepreneurs, tech enthusiasts, and creatives – will be selected through a rigorous application process and invited to join the HackForGood 2019 cohort.
Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF) is proud to be partnering with Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) who will serve as the academic host for HackForGood 2019.
Since 1981, FUTA has been among Nigeria’s top-ranked universities. FUTA boasts 8 schools, specialized research facilities, and a population of approximately 20,000 undergraduate students. FUTA has produced more than 25,000 graduates who are trailblazers in different economic sectors. In 2019, FUTA’s excellence was recognized by the Scimago Institutions Rankings by being named the number two university in the nation!
Registration for HackForGood 2019 is now closed. Thank you to all who applied.
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The theme for HackForGood 2019 will be Transforming the Narrative from “Aid to Africa” to “Made in Africa”. Participants will include university age students, recent graduates, and early-stage entrepreneurs from all regions of Nigeria who will work in teams to address some of the world’s most urgent problems in the areas of payments, transportation, healthcare, agriculture, and security. The technology solutions that the HackForGood 2019 cohort will develop will directly address the Sustainable Development Goals.
Africa’s workforce is expected to be the largest in the world by 2040. While 10 million young people enter the workforce in Africa every year, only 3 million formal jobs are created. This leads to a lot of competition for every job and a large percentage of unemployed and underemployed youth. To compound this issue, some estimates suggest that two thirds of the jobs that currently exist in developing nations will be wiped out by technological innovations like automation and robotics.
By 2050 as many as 47% of jobs will be automated, including yours. As innovations in artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning bring us virtual assistants, wearable health technology, autonomous vehicles, and many more we haven’t yet conceived of, industries and economy are being transformed at a rapid pace. While these new technologies have brought unimaginable benefits, they also are disrupting many industries and changing the way we work.
The goal of this challenge is to create mock-ups or prototypes of products, services and ideas that are able to generate social and economic value for the community by hacking common objects and using open data, public APIs, frameworks for fast prototyping and software development, micro-controllers, sensors, and 3D Printers.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies that will be leveraged by the HackForGood 2019 cohort will include:
Participants will use emerging technologies in creative and innovative ways to benefit people and the environment with a view to offering solutions in a range of fields including:
HackForGood 2018, held on August 2nd through the 4th at University of Lagos (UniLag), attracted over 200 participants including students, university graduates, technology entrepreneurs, innovation leaders, intrapreneurs, and industry professionals from around the world.
Demographics of our Past Cohorts
Read: “Transforming the Continent’s Narrative from Aid to Africa to Made in Africa”
Would you like to nominate a Nigerian university to become a 3D Africa HackforGood academic partner in future?
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3D Africa HackforGood can accept only those 3D Africa HackforGood Hackathon Entries that are completed and submitted as described above and that conform to any technical requirements specified as part of the entry process. 3D Africa HackforGood Hackathon entries that do not comply with the provisions of these Official Contest Rules will be deemed ineligible and will not be considered.
Each 3D Africa HackforGood 2019 prototype will be judged using 4 key criteria:
A. IMPACT
Innovation / Ambition/Creativity
B. TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
Ingenuity/User Interface / User Experience
C. MARKETABILITY
Overall Quality
D. COLLABORATION
Quality of Pitch / Impact
Each judge will assign a score between 10 and 50 inclusively for each of the four criteria, with 10 being unexceptional and 50 being exceptional. Total Number of Points Achievable is 200.
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