Ooredoo has announced the winners of the first Ooredoo 5G Virtual Hackathon, with four winning teams being selected to progress their innovations. A total of 46 teams entered the Hackathon out of 150+ applications. In the Smart X category, edinemenu – a solution for the dining industry that enables digitalisation and compliance automation via on-demand ordering – won top spot. 
Qimbia triumphed in the Sports Tech category with their social platform connecting sports enthusiasts with venue operators across Qatar, while Eventy, a venue booking portal for social and corporate engagements, headed the Media and Entertainment category. Online education platform Educarso, designed for hearing-impaired learners, topped the EduTech category. 
Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulla al-Thani, CEO at Ooredoo Qatar, said: “We’re delighted to announce the winners of our first ever 5G Virtual Hackathon. A great deal of preparation went into the event, and we’re proud to see it was such a success. Innovation is at the heart of our corporate strategy as we move towards complete digitalisation -- in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 -- and to welcome so many keen young entrepreneurs with such innovative ideas was immensely encouraging. I’d like to extend my sincere gratitude to our Academia and Business Ecosystems partners for their invaluable support, without whom the Hackathon would not have been possible. I look forward to seeing these exciting innovations as they develop.” 
The four lucky teams will receive a pre-seed investment of up to QR25,000 to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and run a validation sprint. They will also be integrated into the Lean Start-up Programme (LSP 14) to further validate and develop their MVP and pitch at the Final Demo Day in December 2020. 
Finally, the winning teams will also have the opportunity to be incubated by Ooredoo’s Digital & Beyond Incubator, and gain access to additional funding and in-kind support of up to QR250,000, as well as getting the opportunity to fast-track to piloting of their MVP with Ooredoo ecosystem partners.