Turkish Presidency's Digital Transformation Office this year is organizing for the first time a blockchain competition, Digital Türkiye Blockchain Hackathon, named DIGIATHON 2022, to spur interest in such technologies, particularly among youth.
The applications, which require to be a citizen of the country among others, were started as of Sept. 26 and the process will run through Oct. 14.
The main purpose of the competition is to test participants' ability to develop Digital Türkiye services with blockchain infrastructure. Besides, the Hackathon, also known as a codefest, a social coding event that brings together computer programers and technology enthusiasts, is aimed to attract all citizens who are interested in technology, especially the youth, and spur interest in blockchain, which the Office sees "as one of the technologies of the future."
Ali Taha Koç, commenting on the DIGIATHON 2022, said as the Digital Transformation Office, they have a mission that has been undertaken with the Presidential Decree, and "that is to lead the digital transformation of the public."
"Digital transformation is a constantly evolving process, and it is important to closely follow current developments and to determine an active strategy in innovative technologies," he told Daily Sabah.
"We also follow innovative technologies closely and organize supportive projects in order to create qualified human resources in these areas. Recently, we have been focusing on awareness efforts on the blockchain, which we see as one of the technologies of the future," he said.
During the competition, participants who will apply from universities or companies throughout Türkiye, will form teams consisting of at least two and a maximum of four people and demonstrate their competencies for services that are used and can be used in real life.
The development will be done on the Avalanche testnet, which will be created at the Digital Transformation Office.
The competition will be held in two stages – pre-selection and final. The pre-selection phase will be held online through multiple-choice questions and reviewed by the evaluation committee. Up to 20 teams that are successful in the pre-selection stage will be invited to the final stage to be held in Istanbul in November.
Koç, meanwhile, went on to say that there is still a lot to learn and discover about blockchain.
With the Digital Turkey Blockchain Hackathon, he said, they invite technology enthusiasts in public and universities to develop innovative solutions for e-Devlet, Türkiye's online portal for government services.
Koç stressed that one of the most important elements of this project is the creation of a test network to be opened in the Digital Transformation Office.
"DIGIATHON 2022 competitors will first have the chance to use this testnet, which will be established using Avalanche technology, and then, when the necessary technical studies are completed, we will gradually offer this testnet to all our citizens, especially the public institutions and universities," he said.
"All of our citizens who want to develop themselves in blockchain and who want to produce projects will be able to benefit from this network free of charge," Koç added.
"We aim to achieve good results with this project, which will contribute greatly to the National Technology Move, where we aim to create domestic and global products."