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Preparing for disasters through tech

The University of Newcastle, in Australia, recently held its annual Hackathon or problem-solving challenge called the Integrated Innovation Network (I2N).

Disaster resilience was the focus for this year, which asked participants to find solutions that leave communities less vulnerable when disaster strikes.

According to a recent press release, Disaster Master was awarded the Best Tech Solution for Disaster Resilience.

Becoming disaster resilient through tech

It is a mobile-based application that gamifies challenges based on real disaster situations to educate people on how to prevent, prepare, respond and recover from natural and man-made disasters.

Moreover, it is an app that encompasses mini games based on real disaster situations. It also includes opportunities to progress, join local teams and compete with others.

Even better, the app allows users to send out an SOS notification to the relevant emergency services, informing where they are and the type of assistance they need during real-life disaster situations.

The project aims to empower people to manage disasters, build a strong community, and optimise disaster relief resources.

The Hackathon

During the two-day event at the University’s New Space city campus, 40 participants, having 50% female representation, formed eight teams.

They had the opportunity to learn from disaster resilience experts and technical mentors before embarking on a 10-hour ‘hack’ to evolve their ideas into a viable, technological solution.

The event aims to build enterprise skills among the community and was supported by the NSW Government’s Boosting Business Innovation Program, among others.

The Winners

The winning team was comprised of multi-disciplinary professionals in civil and software engineering, a University of Newcastle IT student and a University alumnus who had never met before the event.

The team had won A$ 3,000 and will each receive a three-month residency at the University’s I2N Hub Hunter Street, including specialist mentorship.

The team that was awarded Best Runner-Up Tech Solution received A$ 2,000 for their project U-Help, which uses blockchain to track donations made to charities.

By utilising blockchain, the process of donating becomes more transparent, with every transaction viewed and tracked as a ledger.

The project aims to encourage more donors to feel comfortable donating to help those that are affected by natural disasters.

Meanwhile, the Rising Star Award, together with A$ 500, were given to the team who created a microgrid solution called Community Power.

Having energy supply is critical for people during disaster times, mainly for communication purposes and use of any medical equipment.

The goal is coordinate the wind energy with other energy sources that are vulnerable in their own ways and via the information sharing technology, utilise wind power to improve the communities’ disaster resilience ability.

Other participants

The other projects developed during the hackathon also developed noteworthy projects.

Mud Army calls registered volunteers by SES in a time of disaster. The SES pinpoints an evacuation location on a map and volunteers are given a list of tasks they can do.

The Disaster Resilience Intelligence Solution (DRIS) is a system that provides an initial resource demand based on similar past world events when a new disaster is registered.

Empowering Communities for Emergency/Disaster Resilience (E=MC2) is an app that is structured into three levels of community engagement:  Standard, Community, and Business versions.

Rescue Safe Solar improves disaster resilience by creating safer houses, safer emergency services, connectedness and increased confidence in solar.

Aware is a collaborative database that maps assets of a community to improve disaster awareness and allow responders to be better coordinated and therefore more effective.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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