Innovation is the lifeblood of MyGate and what better way to spur collective innovation among our people than an Ideathon. It’s been two days since the event wrapped up and we thought it’s about time we recap the competition and share our experience.
Kickstarting the MyGate Ideathon Series
This being our first Ideathon, we weren’t sure of what to expect at the outset. However, we surely did know that we want our people to get their creative juices flowing and channelise them in a constructive and fun way. Well, isn’t that the most fulfilling incentive of Ideathons?
As per a recent study, 76.3% developers participate in Ideathons & Hackathons because they enjoy the experience, while 66.1% developers seek improved programming ability. Only 18.9% participants aim at winning prizes or cash rewards. Surprising… isn’t it?
Moving on… right after the theme of the event was announced, making MyGate bigger and better, the atmosphere was bubbling with excitement. In a matter of a few days, we had entries flowing in from 40 teams across 10 cities. This was slightly over 200 participants. We weren’t expecting such a staggering response. After a round of careful consideration, 15 teams were shortlisted for the final battle. Once the finalists were broadcasted, the battle began right at that moment.
Eat, sleep, code, repeat…
On the day of the final event, the participants checked in at the registration desk and head over to the commencement ceremony. As soon as the ceremony concluded, participants scattered and joined fellow colleagues to kick off their 24hrs of rendezvous.
The participants were living by the mantra.., eat, sleep, code, repeat, while the clock continued to tick. As they collectively tread into the darker hours of the night, the coffee machine was being put to its best use. Sip after sip… cup after cup… almost like a coffee marathon! Among the anxiety and chaos, one member of the group was rewriting the video function while the other was having a complete change of heart.
The Judgement Day
Just over an hour until show & tell time, the ambience was paradoxical where stress and excitement co-existed. Amidst the mental contradiction, there was Team Chronos who was hustling with their laptops, perhaps codes, to get a basic functional prototype right. With a vision to win the race against time, they were aiming at making MyGate support super fast, with round-the-clock availability. The team successfully brought the judges into their fold and bagged the winners trophy. It wouldn’t be wrong to say, they nearly did beat time leveraging the power of codes and technology.
MyGate Medico and Mygate Express were other deserving ideas, among the rest, that caught the judges’ attention. MyGate Medico aims at creating a healthier community by providing quick, in-app emergency medical assistance. The approach is to add an SOS feature in the user app to trigger an alert to all medical professionals on the app during an emergency event.
MyGate Express is dedicated to providing seamless entries for invited and uninvited guests without having to block the gate for manual entries. The idea is to drastically reduce the waiting time at the gate, from 2-3 minutes to less than 10 seconds. This problem scales up for corporate scenarios where vendors, employees, security personnel check in at the same time and verification needs to be done if the entry is valid. Therefore, the solution results in enhanced security without any waiting queues.
Fostering Innovation. Inspiring Change.
In its introductory edition this year, MyGate Ideathon witnessed palpable energy, overwhelming enthusiasm and a variety of ideas across the spectrum. As much as the code-combat was thrilling, we discovered that ideathons are so much more than a competition. They are an inclusive, collaborative space for brainstorming and building breakthrough prototypes that can change people’s lives for good.
If your idea didn’t work out, don’t sweat it. We’ll be back next year with a fresh theme to promote innovation and encourage the sense of generating value. Stay tuned!
Innovation