The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has Wednesday brought together developers and innovators to develop Transport Management solutions with the aim of reducing road accidents in the country.
Dubbed Transport Management Hackathon, UCC’s two-day event will majorly seek for ideas on how to better manage traffic flow; with the increasing number of private cars in Uganda while most of the roads remain narrow.
In the Hackathon which is also part of UCC’s annual innovation awards (ACIA), the commission partnered with Makerere University School of Public Health – Resilient Africa Network (RAN).
The Wednesday event also involved officials from Uganda Police, Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA), Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Airtel Uganda, among others.
According to the RAN Communications Manager, Harriet Adong, the two-day convention is to specifically look at the genesis of the problems public transport users are facing and also come out with ways of preventing them.
“Stakeholders are here for two days to interact and brainstorm on the present transport challenges and also find solutions to them,” Ms. Adong said.
The 9 hackathon ICT innovator groups are expected to separately pitch and front concepts which are to be debated in the general assembly and judges pick the best two.
“We expect the 9 groups to pitch for ideas that are later to be exhausted by all. Judges shall pick two best ideas at the end of the day tomorrow,” she added.
UCC has organized to give $1,000 to the 2 winning teams according to the remarks of the Executive Director, Godfrey Mutabazi.