BUSINESS TECH | Amazon Web Services launches AWS Hackdays 2019: ‘Hack for Good’

Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, has launched its annual education and hackathon event, AWS Hackdays 2019: Hack for Good, with the goal of empowering a community of Southeast Asian developers to drive positive change using AWS’s technologies. The AWS Hackdays 2019: Hack for Good will be conducted online across six Southeast Asian countries including Philippines. Participants are invited to create solutions around four topics: HealthTech, AgriTech, Smart City, and FinTech.

At AWS Hackdays 2019: Hack for Good, builders in the region will showcase their innovation, and demonstrate skills in either Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT), Data Analytics, or Modern Applications. Participants will have access to AWS services such as Amazon Sagemaker to build, train, and deploy Machine Learning (ML) models; Amazon Polly to build speech-enabled applications; and Amazon Lex to build chatbots, as well as AWS IOT services, AWS Data Analytics, and Modern Applications such as Serverless Technologies, Microservices and Continuous integration and Continuous deliver (CI/CD). By tapping into AWS technologies, they are encouraged to create cloud-based solutions that can contribute to positive social and economic results across the region, and inspire the next generation of developers.

“Advancements in cloud technology have allowed developers around the world to design and develop solutions that were previously unimaginable,” said Nick Walton, managing director for ASEAN, AWS.For example, Indonesia’s PetaBencana uses AWS’s IoT technology to monitor water level and share time-critical information with residents in the event of a flood. Sunday Insurance in Thailand uses machine-learning algorithms to provide customers with a broader range of insurance policies, covering properties and possessions, and highly customized premiums that deliver greater value to customers.”

For the first time ever, the AWS Hackdays 2019: Hack for Good will include an online component, where participants can submit their entries to https://aws.agorize.com/en in an online hackathon. Five teams in each country will earn the opportunity to participate in the national Demo Days, where they will pitch their final projects to a panel consisting of AWS and other expert judges in the startup/innovation space. The deadline for submitting the deliverables for the online hackathon in the Philippines is on March 10, 2019.

At AWS, we hope to enable members of the developer community to harness the power of technology to drive positive impact for a better world,” said Walton. “AWS Hackdays 2019: Hack for Good will provide Southeast Asian builders with access to tools and services on the broadest and deepest platform, and enable them to develop forward-thinking solutions to real world issues that can help improve the way organisations do business, or the way we live.”

Each winning national team will represent their country, and compete in the AWS Hackdays 2019 Grand Finale in Singapore on April 10, 2019. Entries will be judged on originality and creativity, feasibility and potential impact, and how well the proposed application integrates with AWS services. The winning team of the AWS Hackdays 2019 Grand Finale in Singapore will receive a paid trip (including airfare, accommodation, and re:Invent tickets) to AWS re:Invent 2019 in Las Vegas, the world’s leading learning conference for the global cloud community.