UST Announces Winners of Fourth D3CODE Global Hackathon Event

Leading digital transformation solutions company UST has announced the winners of its fourth edition of D3CODE, a hackathon event for participants held across five countries – India, US, UK, Mexico and Malaysia. The event saw more than 7,000 entries, while 800 ideas were submitted across multiple locations, a company spokesperson said. D3CODE is one of many events at D3, a week-long conference and technology expo.

‘Scale’, this year’s theme

This year’s theme, “Scale,” called for scalable solutions to create a positive impact, addressing socially impactful issues such as education, health, poverty and environmental sustainability. Each country held individual hackathons, with the winning teams being sent to compete in the Grand Final. A rigorous judging process evaluated entries based on their originality, potential social impact, solution scalability, and user experience, among others. Each region qualified five winning teams for the final round, from which a global winner and regional winners were selected.

Winners receive $10,000 in prize money

The winning team will receive $10,000, while the regional hackathon winners will win $5,000. UST awarded US$2,400 each to the teams that received honorary mentions. UST will congratulate the winner of the global hackathon at its annual global technology conference, D3 (Dream, Develop, and Disrupt), to be held in India. Winners may also qualify for seed funding to help bring their ideas to market, supported by UST’s extensive experience and network.

Real world problems

Manu Gopinath, Chief Operating Officer, UST, said the aim of D3CODE is to serve as a platform for technology innovators to come up with innovative ideas on innovative solutions to solve real-world problems with scalable solutions. “This year’s hackathon focused not only on participants’ technical prowess, but also on cultivating social responsibility and creating meaningful impacts on society. Events like D3CODE remind us of the unlimited potential of young minds and their role in building a better and more sustainable future”, he added.

The following teams were declared winners of D3CODE Hackathon 2024:

Global Winner: Leon Kipkoech of Florida National University, Miami, Florida, for ‘Dynamic ASL Transcription for Video Platforms’.

India region winners:

First prize: Khusbu Rai and teamfrom Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, for ‘Recycle Radar: Turning Waste into Opportunity’.