More than 160 fresh talents at Malaysia Developer's Day

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) set a new national mark after they closed one of Malaysia's 'hackathon' events with more than 160 application developers as its participants.

MCMC chief industry development officer Datuk Mohd Ali Hanafiah Mohd Yunus told Bernama today that Malaysia Developer's Day 2013 was launched some two weeks ago, in collaboration with American multinational telecommunications corporation AT&T.

Traditionally, he said, the highest number of participants entering a national-level 'hackathon' contest was at 25.

Mohd Ali said not all the participants who signed up for the contest had the skills and knowledge and those with skills and knowledge sometimes lacked ideas for the contest.

"We had encouraged the participants to form groups of two to four people and we helped to match those with skills and knowledge with idealists who play a very important part of the team," he said.

Mohd Ali said the teams were mentored by industry players who helped them build the applications and share their expertise with the contestants.

One of the mentors was Farizshah Gaskin Technologies director, Farizshah Gaskin.

According to Farizshah, the amount of talent displayed at the competition was world class and most of the contestants were developing applications that were relevant to user both local and globally.

"This shows Malaysia is not short of creative talents but these people have no idea where to bring their talent to, and with this competition, MCMC plays the role of the bridge that links our local talents to the industry players worldwide," he said.

After 24 hours of developing ideas into mobile applications, the contestants finally presented their products to a panel of judges from MCMC, AT&T, and industry experts today.

Team Pillow with their application 'PERKS' won first prize while Team Pronto Speed won second place followed by Team Shoutout who won third place.

The winning teams took home USD10,000 (RM33,000), USD3,000 (RM10,000) and USD1,000 (RM3,300) respectively and each will get an opportunity to present their apps to delegates at Hawaiis Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Telecommunications (APECTEL) Conference later this month and also at the KL Global Entrepreneurship Summit in October.