In order to develop viable uses of IoT (The Internet of Things) solutions that can be implemented in smart cities worldwide, JomHack organised a 24-hour IoT hackathon in collaboration with The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Cyberview Sdn Bhd together with The Things Network Netherlands and Pixaworks Creative Sdn Bhd using the theme “Smart Cities with LoRa”.
From 5th–7th August, the event took place at the Cyberview Living Lab in Cyberjaya and saw a total of 30 teams, each comprised of three members with various computer programming, application development and engineering backgrounds. The teams were given a total of 24 hours to collaborate and develop usable IoT solutions which could be adopted and implemented in Cyberjaya.
Participants were given the freedom to use any platform, and whatever was built at the event was fully owned by the team. A total of ten winning projects were shortlisted with the top three teams selected as grand winners based on their ability to build IoT solutions around the “Smart Cities” theme, real-world application, innovation and individual capabilities of the teams.
Participants also made use of Long Range (LoRa) technology—a signal modulation technique that provides a long-range communication link for a low-powered wide-area network which can reach up to 2–3 km in urban areas and over 15 km in sub-urban areas. The technology was provided by The Things Network (TTN) Netherland, a global, open, crowd-sourced Internet of Things data network with over 200 communities worldwide.
Commenting on the inaugural 2016 event, Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood, Chief Executive Officer of MDEC said, “The IoT represents the next frontier of Information Technology, with tremendous new capabilities waiting to be explored. With JomHack, we are a step closer to transforming the nation and fundamentally reshaping the way our cities operate. Through the partnership with Cyberview Living Lab, The Things Network and the ideas we see brought to life by the participants, we look forward to planning the future of our connected Malaysia.”
In the end, the grand prize with a total of RM5,000 went to Leong Yok Tien, Ng Kok Kwan, and Adel Maratova with their idea of a Water Leakage Detection System where they hope to solve the issue of RM1.3bil worth of treated water going down to the drain every year in Malaysia.
When asked what their next plans are after winning this hackathon, Leong Yok Tien commented, “We are fortunate enough that MDeC has scheduled a follow-up meeting with companies that we can explore opportunity to deliver the project.
We still have a lot hypotheses that need to be validated and we can’t just dig the road and install our sensor on the pipe right? As for now, it really depends on companies and agencies that are related to water distribution in Malaysia. We hope that they can put aside the differences and focus on solving this issue.”
The runner up was a Water Quality Monitoring Application done by students Muhammad Amin Bin Ab Halim, Mohd Syakiruddin Bin Yusof and Muhammad Nor Sabrie Bin Johari who walked out of the hackathon with a cash prize of RM2,000.
Their next plan is to try and commercialise their project by pitching their invention to possible investors. They mentioned this effort will start on August 22 where JomHack has already arranged a meeting between the competition winners and interested parties.
“This is the first Hackathon for Sabrie and Amin and the second Hackathon for me. Both of them were awesome in their own way but in my opinion, JomHack was more challenging in terms of the given theme and the competing teams.
The main things that we gained from this Hackathon are the experience and knowledge obtained on building the IoT-based product since this was actually the first time we’re involved with an IoT project and also the first-hand experience that we gained on hacking the LoRa technology,” said Mohd Syakiruddin regarding his experience with this year’s JomHack.
The second runner-up was a Smart Car Park Management System done by Darween Reza Bin Sabri, Kok Chee Khean, and Shee Tze Jin with a cash prize of RM1,000. The seven other winners from the top ten received RM300 as consolation prizes.
During the judging ceremony, Johan Stokking, co-founder and technology lead of TTN commented on how he was largely impressed with the determination and innovation presented despite the time constraint for the participants.
“Part of becoming a smarter city involves setting up the right opportunity and infrastructure that invites community participation. JomHack certainly hit its mark with these brilliant pitches from its very talented community from all over the country. I’m happy to surmise that everyone here is without a doubt, the best group of hackathon participants I have ever seen,” he enthused.
Sharing his thoughts on JomHack, Mahadhir Aziz, Head of Technology Hub Development Division, Cyberview Sdn Bhd said, “Innovation is at the heart of daily life here in Cyberjaya. As Malaysia’s Capital of Creation, we are beyond excited to have played host to such a prestigious event.
Through this collaboration with MDEC and The Things Network Netherland, we are proud to be part of a movement that could improve the living experience of the community in the long term. We hope that these ideas will be developed to become enablers and key elements of our smart city vision that is driven by a culture of innovation and supported by unparalleled connectivity, sustainability, security and liveability.”
JomHack: Smart Cities with LoRa was sponsored by Atilze Digital Sdn Bhd, DekatKu Sdn Bhd, 3ciety Sdn Bhd, System Consultancy Services Sdn Bhd, and Gain Secure Sdn Bhd.
Congratulations to all winners!
Feature Image Credit: JomHack Facebook