AURAK Contributes to Innovation Month

The American University of Ras Al Khaimah’s (AURAK), in collaboration with Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), organized “Hackathon 2.0 UAE” to develop innovative solutions and ideas to contribute to lifestyle development in UAE communities.

The UAE Hackathon is comprised of a number of hackathons, taking place in locations throughout the seven emirates, and reflects the efforts of TRA to disseminate the culture of digital transformation, providing an opportunity for different community members to use open data for finding solutions to specific challenges. The challenges center around trending technology, environment, sustainability data, security and safety, health,  employment, education, social development, justice, and enhancement of lifestyle and social relations in the UAE.

The AURAK Hackathon 2.0 UAE event lasted for three days. The event commenced with speeches from TRA’s Deputy General Manager for Smart Government Sector, Salem Al Housani, AURAK’s Vice President of Academic Affairs and Student Success and Provost, Professor Stephen Wilhite, RAK eGovernment’s Lead of Innovation and Future Shaping, Amna Al Shehhi, and Senior Data Analyst, Latifa Al Shehhi. Trainings were conducted for participants by Microsoft, RAK Government, and FCSA, over topics such as Intellectual Property, The Autonomous World, Knowledge and Business Modeling, and Idea Pitch and Team Building. On the second day, the teams hacked away at their challenges, and on day three, the teams pitched their solutions to judges. The top ten teams were selected, one among them from AURAK. The top three teams will be announced at the Hackathon 2.0 event held on March 3, in Dubai.

AURAK collaborations with TRA began in June 2012 when they provided a large number of full scholarships to Emiarti students in the fields of Electronics and Communication, Computer Engineering and Computer Science. In June 2016 they sponsored the Center of Information, Communication and Networking Education and Innovation |(ICONET) and the School of Engineering through the funding of infrastructure development and state-of-the-art equipment. They continually provide financial support towards the university’s technological research.

Mr. Salem Al Housani, Acting Deputy Director General of the mGovernment Sector, said: “Countries in today's world are progressing due to including all segments of society in the building and development process and in providing insights, ideas and future solutions. This is exactly the objective of UAE Hackathon 2019 (Data for Happiness and Quality of Life), where it aims to attract the interested and experts in data analysis, to come up with ideas and solutions to specific challenges through the data provided by government entities. The Hackathon strives to generate as many constructive ideas as possible to visualize the decisions and strategies upon which

This year's UAE Hackathon covered many topics related to trending technologies, health, environment, sustainability, security and safety, employment, education, social development, justice, and lifestyle enhancement in the UAE.

“Progress is expedited through competition,” remarked AURAK President Professor Hassan Hamdan Al Alkim. “Events like Hackathon 2.0 allow students to apply skills learned in the classroom to real-word problems, with the opportunity to enhance the world around them, solidifying concepts they’ve learned and taking ownership of their learning.”

AURAK is a nonprofit, government-owned institution of higher education which provides the local, regional and international communities with a North American-style education integrated with Arabic customs and traditions. AURAK is licensed by the Ministry of Education in the United Arab Emirates and has been accredited in the United States of America by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) since December 2018. AURAK offers a total of  22 accredited undergraduate and graduate programs across a wide range of disciplines.

TRA strives to be a leading organization in the ICT sector in United Arab Emirates, committed to maintaining positive competition to protect the interests of the subscribers and promoting electronic transformation of the federal agencies and their services by relying on national competencies to apply the best international standards and practices in supervision of the sector´s and to encourage innovation and investment.