10 The SCiiS TPC team ‘SecureIT’ (Lethabo Makopo, Angelic Mokoena, and Lerato Tlhako) were the overall winner of the SATNAC Cyber Security Hackathon, and were awarded a prize of R80 000. SecureIT devised an intelligent system that mitigates human error during the SIM-swap process through sophisticated AI technologies and virtual SIM automation. The team were allowed to pilot their solutions with Telkom and Amdocs. They were also allowed to be part of the Telkom FutureMakers Enterprise Development Accelerator, and have registered ALL SecureIT as an official business entity. Furthermore, the team was interviewed on SABC TV’s The Globe programme to talk more about their winning solution. To watch their interview, click here: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=GJCfMRAEnm8 First-year BIT students win first prize at the Blockchain Innovation Bootcamp and Hackathon The largest blockchain innovation bootcamp and hackathon in South Africa took place at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). With the common goal of enabling enterprise blockchain adoption, UJ’s Technopreneurship Centre (TPC), in partnership with QuidPro and Crypto Valley Venture Capital (CVVC), hosted the first-ever three-day blockchain innovation bootcamp and hackathon event on 20-22 July 2022. This innovation bootcamp and hackathon was a success, attracting interest and bringing together 200+ students, investors, innovators, developers, experts, decision-makers, and academics under the theme “Harnessing the power of blockchain technology through various industry applications”, with the support of many other ecosystem partners. The winning team, Hackchain, a team of first-year Business Information Technology (BIT) students (Caleb Diba, Sabelo Ndlovu, Edson Madzinga, and Kundai Mhandu) from AIS were declared the grand prize winner for developing a healthcare industry solution focusing on disease screening (HIV, STIs/STDs). GirlCode Hackathon – First runner-up in the women-only hackathon GirlCodeHack is an annual event that was hosted this year over the first weekend in August, in celebration of Women’s Month. It is an event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers, and project managers, collaborate intensively on software projects with a specific goal. The SCiiS TPC team (Angelic Mokoena, Lerato Tlhako, and Lethabo Makopo – third-year Business IT students), under the mentorship of the Head of the Centre, Mr Ronny Mabokela, were declared the first runner-up in the GirlCode hackathon. The team developed an AI-powered technology solution aimed at alleviating sexual harassment in the workplace by using machine-learning algorithms to detect any malicious behaviour. The hackathon aims to make a difference in society by ensuring that women get to collaborate, learn, and help one another to continue their journey in the tech space. Power to Act hack The SCiiS TPC team (Sifundo Ngubane, Itumetse Sephula, and Sandile Mabuza) participated in the Rivonia Circle Power to Act hack in collaboration with Geekulcha on 13 and 14 August 2022. The Power to Act hack is a platform for 100 coders, strategists, engineers, and graphic designers to create tools to enable and empower activism and civic participation in South Africa. This hackathon aimed to design a platform that would connect active citizens, encourage participation in policy engagements, and empower people with information about how they can participate in building a better future in South Africa. The Power to Act hack defined four challenging tasks for participants to design: a democracy builder communities manager platform, a policy communities engagement platform, a civic education empowerment platform, and an activist campaign builder. The SCiiS TPC team were declared the winners of the hackathon after developing an mPower tech solution that satisfied the requirements of the activist campaign builder.
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