The Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (TIEC) — an affiliate of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) — announced the launch of the first Metaverse Hackathon in CREATIVA Innovation Hubs and Egypt Makes Electronics Labs (EME) across Egypt. The hackathon aims to inspire and encourage young Egyptian youths across different governorates to create innovative solutions by employing and developing Metaverse applications that address local pressing challenges while also contributing to the acceleration of digital transformation in society. The hackathon comprises a series of hybrid and interactive market-driven competitions in 10 Egyptian governorates, namely Cairo, Alexandria, Mansoura, Menoufiya, Ismailia, Minya, Assiut, Qena, Sohag, and Aswan. Running from 15 February until 15 June 2022, the hackathon will focus on the use of technologies that contribute to the development of the Metaverse, including technologies used to build applications and solutions directly (GameFi -SocialFi-NFT -DAO/DAC -GPT) or indirect contribution applications (Any product/service based upon emerging technologies with direct use in enhancing the Metaverse experience). The hackathon accepts innovative ideas that harness technologies of AR/VR/MR/XR, 3D modelling and animation, virtual beings and digitally created humans, computer vision and spatial computing NFTs and blockchain NLP, sensory wearables and immersive devices, human-machine interaction, ML/AI, IoT. The programme, which comes in light of the ITIDA's efforts to boost innovation and entrepreneurial culture aims to encourage future generations to create and develop innovative solutions. Additionally, the hackathon aims to enhance the role of Egyptian universities as a hub for creativity and innovation-based entrepreneurship in Egypt. The programme is also open to students, grads, faculty members, and researchers in ICT-related colleges in addition to entrepreneurs in the ICT field. The winning teams will be awarded cash prizes amounting to EGP 750,000 in addition to having the priority to join the TIEC's and CREATIVA's programmes, including acceleration, incubation, consultation, mentorship, and networking programmes. All participating teams will get access to the Electronics Innovation Hubs and CREATIVA Innovation Hubs, where all the facilities are made available to accommodate their work needs. Projects' selection and evaluation criteria are based on given factors: The novelty of the idea; idea profitability (Target/expected market size and potential); impact of the idea at the local/national/global level; teamwork (the technical and managerial ability and skills of the team); and prototype maturity.
