Daily Sabah logo

Politics
Diplomacy Legislation War On Terror EU Affairs Elections News Analysis
TÜRKİYE
Istanbul Education Investigations Minorities Expat Corner Diaspora
World
Mid-East Europe Americas Asia Pacific Africa Syrian Crisis Islamophobia
Business
Automotive Economy Energy Finance Tourism Tech Defense Transportation News Analysis
Lifestyle
Health Environment Travel Food Fashion Science Religion History Feature Expat Corner
Arts
Cinema Music Events Portrait Reviews Performing Arts
Sports
Football Basketball Motorsports Tennis
Opinion
Columns Op-Ed Reader's Corner Editorial
PHOTO GALLERY
JOBS ABOUT US RSS PRIVACY CONTACT US
© Turkuvaz Haberleşme ve Yayıncılık 2023

Daily Sabah logo

عربي
  • Politics
    • Diplomacy
    • Legislation
    • War On Terror
    • EU Affairs
    • Elections
    • News Analysis
  • TÜRKİYE
    • Istanbul
    • Education
    • Investigations
    • Minorities
    • Expat Corner
    • Diaspora
  • World
    • Mid-East
    • Europe
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Africa
    • Syrian Crisis
    • Islamophobia
  • Business
    • Automotive
    • Economy
    • Energy
    • Finance
    • Tourism
    • Tech
    • Defense
    • Transportation
    • News Analysis
  • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Environment
    • Travel
    • Food
    • Fashion
    • Science
    • Religion
    • History
    • Feature
    • Expat Corner
  • Arts
    • Cinema
    • Music
    • Events
    • Portrait
    • Reviews
    • Performing Arts
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Motorsports
    • Tennis
  • Gallery
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Op-Ed
    • Reader's Corner
    • Editorial
  • TV
  • Life
  • Health
  • Environment
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion
  • Science
  • Religion
  • History
  • Feature
  • Expat Corner

İzmir Hackathon: UNDP brings together innovative minds to design future of smart public transport

by Yasemin Nicola Sakay

IZMIR Mar 08, 2020 - 12:17 pm GMT+3
Multiple teams worked almost non-stop for 24 hours to find innovative and energy-efficient solutions to minimize disruptions in the city's transportation railway system. (Courtesy of UNDP)
Multiple teams worked almost non-stop for 24 hours to find innovative and energy-efficient solutions to minimize disruptions in the city's transportation railway system. (Courtesy of UNDP)
by Yasemin Nicola Sakay Mar 08, 2020 12:17 pm

Smart cities are the future, and smart, innovative and green public transportation systems will be a prerequisite of this digital urban transformation. Here's how a hackathon organized jointly by the UNDP, the Industry and Technology Ministry and the İzmir Chamber of Commerce helped in eventually achieving that goal

RECOMMENDED
Since the Islamic calendar is calculated with the revolution of the moon around the Earth, the dates of kandils change every year. (IHA Photo)

May all your dreams come true on Islam's Night of Wishes

religion

Click, click, clack!

Dozens of engineering students, software developers, entrepreneurs, designers and tech enthusiasts ferociously typed away at their keyboards, racing to come up with "the project" that would herald a new era of smart transportation systems for the smart cities of the future – in just under 24 hours.

The İzmir Transport Hackathon, held between March 6-7 to support the city's entrepreneurship ecosystem and encourage innovation and economic growth, saw 28 teams made up of roughly four to six people gather at the Historical Coal Gas Factory-turned cultural center in Alsancak in sunny İzmir to produce solutions for an environmentally friendly, sustainable, innovative and inclusive transportation network in the western metropolis.

There were so many projects that were forward-thinking and really pushed the limits, from live help apps that incorporated artificially intelligence screening and chatbots to blockchain technology; however, three teams’ projects came out victorious. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) goodwill ambassador and Turkish actor Mert Fırat and fellow actor and voice artist Toprak Sergen presented at the award ceremony.

In first place came team Metrobot, who developed a user-oriented, artificial intelligence-based application to be used in processes related to the city’s transportation system. In second was Team 256, whose EagleEye app analyzed crowdedness in metro stations with mathematical data and offered optimized dynamic timelines for more efficient deployment of vehicles. Esvision took third place with its warning system that worked like traffic lights to regulate and divert passenger traffic during boarding and landing at railway stations. The groups took home TL 15,000, TL 10,000 and TL 5,000 as prizes, respectively.

The software hackathon was centered around the five following themes:

  • A solution that helps inform passengers of how much space is available in each wagon before five- or seven-wagon vehicles approach the station,
  • Innovative and energy-saving solutions to be applied to brakes operated by machinists (e.g. regenerative braking),
  • Solutions for the timely and efficient evacuation of people from metro stations in possible fires,
  • Solutions for the general railway ecosystem in İzmir based on an application programming interface (API)s shared by Izmir Metro A.Ş.,
  • Innovative solutions for sustainability and accessibility in İzmir's railway systems.

As the third event held by the recently-opened İzmir Innovation Center, the hackathon was organized by the UNDP, the Ministry of Industry and Technology and the Izmir Chamber of Commerce with the support of the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality.

The event served as a pioneer for such future projects, as it lifted municipalities' veil of secrecy so often criticized by citizens, with Izmir Metropolitan Municipality transportation subsidiary İzmir Metro A.Ş. giving participants access to its data to work with real-time big data to work on real-life solutions that emphasize sustainability, social benefit and accessibility.

Participants described the whole experience as tiring but fun. (Courtesy of UNDP)
AI-based Metrobot came in first place. (Courtesy of UNDP)
Esvision, a group of students from Eskişehir, came in third. (Courtesy of UNDP)
Team 256, which included two Syrian members (Alfaisal, 3-R, and Khankan,1-R), came in second. (Courtesy of UNDP)

UNDP brings together Turks, Syrians again

The hackathon, which was organized as part of the job creation component of the UNDP’s Turkey Resilience Project in response to the Syria Crisis (TRP), also fostered friendships and partnerships between Syrian refugees living in Turkey and host communities, creating an environment of social cohesion flourishing with business opportunities.

Team 256 had three Syrian members, which were Hamed Alfaisal, Muhannad Al-Alwan and Mohammad Husam Khankan, who came to Turkey as refugees in 2015, 2016 and 2018, respectively.

Alfaisal’s story is one of perseverance, strength, and hardship. He came to Turkey via ambulance after being shot in an attack by the Bashar Assad regime. He was just a student at Al-Baath University in Homs, Syria, when the war broke out and he had to leave it all behind.

“I had to start with less than nothing seven times,” said Alfaisal, “with my only possessions being the shirt on my back.” Alfaisal also managed to survive three regime sieges over the course of two years, spending most of his time hiding to avoid being killed. With the area blockaded and all entries and exits controlled by regime soldiers, Alfaisal said they had to eat anything they could find that was remotely edible just to stay alive.

“We started out as 4,500 people under siege, but at the end of these two years only around 2,000 of us were left,” he said.

His family still remains in Syria, and life is pretty hard for them, he says.

He currently has a startup that offers services to Syrians in Turkey as well as international clientele for web-based solutions. Although tiring, he said the hackathon was great fun and really helped broaden his horizons.

Al-Alwan was also forced to flee his hometown of Deir El-Zour in Syria over the regime's continued attacks and increasing pressure.

"I lost my house and my job in Syria; I came to Turkey four years ago because of the war conditions and the bad situation there," he said.

He said Turkey was the best and the only option he had in terms of a safe escape.

"The living conditions and the relationship between us (Syrians) and our Turkish brothers (goes way back)," he said.

"Turkey is a great country, Turkish people are very nice and we have a lot in common," he added.

After all the hardship he suffered in Syria, al-Alwan says he is "really happy to be in Turkey."

"I now have many Turkish friends and neighbors that I’m very proud to have known."

Despite being a digital services company in Gaziantep and having worked in digital marketing and digital security for about 10 years, Al-Alwan said the İzmir Hackathon was his first such experience but he was glad to have been a part of it.

Although less violent, Khankan’s story is similar, but he had others to think about, too – his wife and two children.

Just 32 days after getting married, he had to leave the country over the regime’s arbitrary arrests and efforts to quell dissenting voices. Three months after seeking refuge in Turkey, he brought his family to Gaziantep in the southeast to start over. His parents still live in Syria, though, where the situation grows direr every day.

“Yes, they may not have been affected as much as me because they do not leave their house that much, but it is pretty bad there,” he says.

Whether it is frequent security checks, limited resources and queuing for days for the most basic of necessities, poverty and political pressure, “life is just really hard there,” he says.

“I try to convince them to come to Turkey, but he (his father) just wants his own house, his own garden,” he says, because for them, despite all the hardships, it is their homeland and the place where they grew up.

“But when you are young and have a family and kids to bring up, you need to think about the future,” Alfaisal says, adding that it was one of the reasons why he chose Turkey.

The culture here is also very similar, and people were very welcoming, he says.

“I have my wife, I have my kids, I have a roof over my head and can buy food; we’re safe. What else could I ask for?”

However, life in Turkey hasn’t always been rainbows and roses. Racism has also started to surface in some areas, and the language barrier doesn’t help, he says.

“I tried to learn Turkish from Turkish series and TV, but it can be hard because there are so many accents, especially in the southeast,” he says.

He, like the others, has his own web development and software engineering company and wants it to grow. The hackathon in İzmir helped him expand his network of contacts, exchange ideas with fellow engineers and entrepreneurs and get advice from trusted mentors.

RECOMMENDED
Since the Islamic calendar is calculated with the revolution of the moon around the Earth, the dates of kandils change every year. (IHA Photo)

May all your dreams come true on Islam's Night of Wishes

religion
  • shortlink copied
  • Last Update: Mar 11, 2020 8:49 pm
    RELATED TOPICS
    fight-against-terrorism DEUTSCHE-BANK US-LIBYA-RELATIONS
    KEYWORDS
    smart era digital transformation undp syrian refugees izmir turkey
    The Daily Sabah Newsletter
    Keep up to date with what’s happening in Turkey, it’s region and the world.
    You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
    Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states’ early diplomatic maneuvering occurred in the broader context of the nations’ strategic interests and should not be confused with unequivocal support for Russia. (Shutterstock Photo)

    Gulf states changing the face of Ukraine war

    gulf-states
    U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (R) speaks during a news conference, as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) looks on, at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Türkiye, Oct. 17, 2019. (Reuters File Photo)

    Pompeo's statements 'exaggeration, delusive': FM Çavuşoğlu

    türkiye-us-relations

    Türkiye says pointless to restore NATO dialogue with Sweden, Finland

    nato-membership

    Far-right politician Paludan to burn Quran in Denmark

    ISLAMOPHOBIA
    No Image
    Macy's Thanksgiving parade is back in its full glory
    PHOTOGALLERY
    • POLITICS
    • Diplomacy
    • Legislation
    • War On Terror
    • EU Affairs
    • News Analysis
    • TÜRKİYE
    • Istanbul
    • Education
    • Investigations
    • Minorities
    • Diaspora
    • World
    • Mid-East
    • Europe
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Africa
    • Syrian Crisis
    • İslamophobia
    • Business
    • Automotive
    • Economy
    • Energy
    • Finance
    • Tourism
    • Tech
    • Defense
    • Transportation
    • News Analysis
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Environment
    • Travel
    • Food
    • Fashion
    • Science
    • Religion
    • History
    • Feature
    • Expat Corner
    • Arts
    • Cinema
    • Music
    • Events
    • Portrait
    • Performing Arts
    • Reviews
    • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Motorsports
    • Tennis
    • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Op-Ed
    • Reader's Corner
    • Editorial
    • Photo gallery
    • Jobs
    • privacy
    • about us
    • contact us
    • RSS
    © Turkuvaz Haberleşme ve Yayıncılık 2021