Accenture Launches Global Digital Hackathon with Expo 2020 Dubai to Develop Digital Solutions that Improve Urban Living
Through its first ever Accenture Global Digital Hackathon and in collaboration with Expo 2020 Dubai, Accenture challenges participants from 11 cities around the world to develop prototypes of human-centered digital solutions for improving urban living quality.
Going Global
The 24-hour hackathon takes place simultaneously on November 11 and 12, 20171 in the following locations:
- Chicago
- Bangalore
- Dubai
- Istanbul
- London
- Manila
- Mexico City
- Monterrey
- Rome
- Shanghai
- Singapore
Accenture welcomes recent graduates, undergraduates, entrepreneurs and also individuals from technology development, design and marketing start-ups, to participate.
Prototyping digital solutions to help create a truly human city environment
Taking inspiration from Expo 2020 Dubai’s theme, “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future,” participants will compete on finding digital solutions through which organizations can address urban challenges. Over half of the world’s population currently lives in urban areas.2 Expected to continue, this trend thus raises challenges for creating truly inclusive environments. Moreover, issues arise in improving work and travel conditions in cities, and adopting a more sustainable approach to urbanization.
The proposed solutions need to meet two requirements:
- Placing human beings at the heart of the experience;
- Using latest digital technologies such as:
- Wearables
- Artificial intelligence
- Analytics
- Augmented and virtual reality
- Blockchain
- Internet of Things
Accenture group chief executive Mike Sutcliff challenges digital mavens to channel creativity towards urbanization and digitization. People, Sutcliff notes, should always come first, especially for both aspects. Digital experiences can make cities more livable for customers, patients, workers, students, and citizens. However, these experiences can only be successful if they are truly human.
Gillian Hamburger, Senior Vice President of Commercial at Expo 2020 Dubai explained how World Expos have always showcased innovation. In addition, the Accenture Global Digital Hackathon encourages innovation and connections among people from around the world.
Expo 2020 Dubai earlier this year named Accenture a Digital Services Premier Partner and Systems Integrator. Moreover, this title reinforced their objective provide technologically advanced and innovative experiences to participants and visitors.
Why participate in the Accenture Global Digital Hackathon?
- Accenture will award prizes worth up to a total of US$ 80,000 to the top teams in each city, region (Europe & Middle East, North America & Latin America, Asia), and globally. In addition, the best works will be determined by a panel of judges of experienced practitioners from Accenture, Expo 2020 Dubai and local sponsors.3
- Expo will select its favorite project from among the three regional winners and shortlist it for the Expo Live “Innovation Impact Grant Programme.” Furthermore, the program also expects to provide winning projects grants of up to US$ 100,000 and a chance to showcase their innovations at the next World Expo.4
- Participants demonstrating exceptional teamwork, problem-solving and goal orientation skills whose profiles are in line with Accenture’s recruitment plans, may also be interviewed for roles in Accenture Digital, or elsewhere in the company.
Learn more at accenture.com/digital and follow #AccentureDigiHack.
1 To ensure participants from all cities can connect for a certain amount of time, in Chicago, Mexico and Monterrey the hackathon will start in the late afternoon of November 10.
2 “Globally, 54% of the population lives in urban areas today (…) [B]y 2045, the number of people living in cities will increase by 1.5 times to 6 billion, adding 2 billion more urban residents.” Source: The World Bank, “Urban Development”, March 29, 2017 (http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/overview)
3 For terms and conditions of the Accenture Global Digital Hackathon and its prizes, see https://www.accenture.com/us-en/digital-index.
4 World Expo is a separate event that is not connected to the Accenture Global Digital Hackathon. Expo Live has the sole discretion as to whether or not they choose a winning project and, if so, Expo Live will determine what benefits the selected project will receive.