Intel presents Safehack to strengthen women safety received close to 700 entries across India

TECHNOLOGY

Intel presents Safehack drew close to 700 entries across India

3 winning team chosen out of the 10 shortlisted

The winning teams will get a chance to meet tech titan 

Shri Narayan Murthy

by Shrutee K / DNS

MUMBAI: Intel Corporation presents Safehack – the curtain raiser for a hackathon campaign, was a unique event coined to strengthen women safety. Since the announcement of the competition, Safehack engaged over 700 coders from all over India to develop a concept for creation of an app for women's safety. This proves that the subject has been taken seriously in our country and people want to do their bit to ensure women are safe. The campaign is also supported by Chime for Change, founded by Gucci in US.

Top 10 finalists presented their concept to an eminent panel of jury comprising Ms. Deepmala Sachan, Senior Technical Engineer, Intel, Ms. Farhana, Head – M2M, India, Vodafone, Ms. Devita Saraf, CEO and Design Head, Vu Luxury Television and Mr. Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, Businessworld.  

Speaking about the Safehack, Debjani Ghosh, Vice President Sales & Marketing Group, Managing Director, South Asia, Intel, said,“India can achieve truly inclusive growth only if women partake in the national building agenda and contribute actively to the nation’s economic growth. Today, women’s safety is a serious social issue that needs to be addressed in India. Technology has the potential to help solve this problem and drive inclusive growth. We’re proud to collaborate with this event that will foster innovation focused on women to promote safety and empower them with technology.”

Shri Narayana Murthy, Founder of Infosys, extended his support to this initiative with his encouraging words. He said,“Safehack is an important step in empowering women and motivating app developers to work for the social good. It will be interesting to see how these hackers will merge skills and technology to build an innovative enterprise app.”

The Safehack drive has also been given the big thumbs up from ace Bollywood actor and UN goodwill ambassador, South Asia, Farhan Akhtar. He said, “Getting coders from all over India to come together and develop a women safety app can be a very daunting task. However, it’s imperative to address this compelling issue and hence, I am happy to extend my complete support for this social cause. The participation in this Hackathon will not only demonstrate the potential of Indian tech persons, but also turn ideas into tangible solutions leading to a positive social impact.”

The event, organized by Crosshairs Communications, a top tier agency specializing in public relations and social media, received an overwhelming response. Talking about the event Ms. Stuti Jalan Founder of Crosshairs Communication, said “it has been an honour to host this event in a country like ours where women are facing atrocities every minute. It is our responsibility to ensure that the women live a safe life.  It is also very overwhelming to see the younger generation taking up the effort to bring change in the society.”

The 3 winners chosen under the categories of Best User Experience and Design, Most Original Concept and Innovative Excellenci  and Special initiative will now get a chance to meet Shri Narayan Murthy, founder of Infosys. The other prizes include cash vouchers and goody bags from international fashion brand KAZO and leading apparel and shoe brand SPUNK. The winner for Best User Experience and Design was Mr. Hemant Shivdasani, Chetan Temkar for Design, Most Original Concept and Innovative Excellence, Dr. Arjun Pai for Special Initiative .

The event was presented by Intel and supported by Indian School of Design and Innovation, Kazo, Spunk.