The University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology (former KIST) yesterday recognised three groups of students who excelled in an information and technology innovation competition.

The event, dubbed Random Hacks of Kindness, East African Hackathon took place in Kigali from October 6-7. It  was co-hosted by the College of Science and Technology.

The event attracted 200 youth innovators who were required to develop a practical technological solution to disaster risk management and climate change solution among others.

The theme for the Hackathon was "Resilience building innovations.”

The competition is a marathon coding event that brings together developers and technologists to create innovative solutions to real world problems like floods, drought, and fires.

It is a joint initiative of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, HP, NASA and the World Bank and the winners walked away with Smartphones from Microsoft.

James  McWha, the vice-chancellor of the University of Rwanda, said Information and Communication Technology is an engine to driving Rwanda’s transformation to a knowledge based economy.

"Let me remind the winners and all students who participated in this competition that, this is a significant experience in their lives,” McWha said.

He said the students ability to develop practical technological solutions to disaster and climate change challenges, among others, is proof that they can compete globally.

Prof. Manasse Mbonye, the College principal, said since technology plays a significant role in economic development, it is a duty for educators to create a conducive environment for the youth to use their energy and creativity to integrate ICTs into the nations’ development agenda.

"In the College of Science and Technology, we support any initiative that encourages students to find solutions to challenges in the community,” Mbonye said.

Robert Basomingera, from the overall winning group, said they developed a system called ‘GIS disaster mobile notification’.

"This system will provide timely and important information about emergencies and hazards and how to respond to ensure safety. When one sends an alert or notification, it will locate the sender’s phone number,” Basomingera explained.

Audace Byishimo, from the second best group, said because most farmers lack knowledge on what to plant in certain soil types, or even predict the weather, they developed a programme that could help in that regard.

"We came up with an idea whereby the farmers will have a system that will help them know what to plant in a particular location. The system is called ‘Farmers climate and Soil

Assistant’ which is a web and mobile application,” Byishimo explained.

The third best group, represented by Enid Natukunda, came up with a disaster notification system to help Red Cross volunteers to easily coordinate their work to reduce the number of lives lost due to delays in communication whenever disasters strike.

She said the system can enable communication between residents and facilitate the Red Cross activities. The system is a web application called ‘Disaster Notification in Rwanda’.

Rwanda had a total of 45 participants from Kigali Independent University, (ULK), the Adventist Central Africa University-Mudende, and the University of Rwanda.