The international winners of the second annual Presidential Hackathon were presented with their awards by Vice President Chen Chien-jen during a ceremony at the Presidential Office July 21 in Taipei City.
CoST from Honduras and Mentadak from Malaysia, finished atop a 23-strong field drawn from 13 countries and territories advancing solutions spanning such areas as government procurement, road construction and recycling. The former proposed an initiative to enhance environmental evaluation transparency and optimize resource allocation for infrastructure projects, while the latter designed an online procurement system to strengthen clean governance in the public sector.
Chen said the competition—themed Enabling Sustainable Infrastructure—is in line with government efforts to bolster exchanges between Taiwan and overseas information and communication technology experts. It also reflects the goals of President Tsai Ing-wen’s Journey of Freedom, Democracy, Sustainability, as well as providing a platform for the country to share its democratic and technological achievements with the world, he added.
According to Chen, the Presidential Hackathon is further evidence of Taiwan’s commitment to promoting the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals by implementing open government and employing cutting-edge technologies to improve the people’s quality of life.
Finalists in the domestic component of the Hackathon are set to pitch their proposals July 27 at the Presidential Office. Five winners will be selected, with the teams expected to receive their prizes from Tsai.
Adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 2015, the SDGs are intended to end poverty, protect the environment and secure peace and prosperity around the world. The 17 goals comprise 169 targets in such fields as clean water and sanitation, climate change, gender equality, global hunger, poverty and sustainable cities. (CPY-E)
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