17.12.2015
Hackathon [Yan] Childhood 2015 winners announced
For the fifth time Hackathon[YAN], the technological and innovative contest has united numerous young and experience developers. This year more than 250 young people, developers and other specialists developed demo versions of solutions to various problems for different fields just within 24 hours. The development stage was followed by the pitches, during which the teams presented their projects to the jury panel.
This year the location of Hackathon [YAN] was very symbolic, as it took place in city of Vanadzor where serious, extensive activities are being carried out with the assistance of RA Government, the World Bank and Enterprise Incubator Foundation to turn the city into a technological center. It is anticipated that the contest will lead to the increase of interest in the IT field among the youth of the region and general development of IT sphere. The contest participants included 15 teams from Vanadzor, 15 teams from Gyumri and more than 40 ones from Yerevan, Gavar, Ijevan and other cities of Armenia.
Hackathon [YAN] Childhood 2015 was unique also in the sense of variety of categories. In addition to the traditional ones, this year the teams were also competing in the categories of ‘Solution to small and medium business issues’ and ‘Solution related to social inclusion,’ which were announced by Microsoft Innovation Center Armenia, Enterprise Incubator Foundation and the World Bank, Taking into account the huge interest of RA Government in issues, faced by small and medium businesses in Armenia, the Center tries to find technological solutions to those problems, which will not only result in the efficient activities of those businesses but also will lead to the enhancement of their activities. The jury panel has identified more than 10 projects, which offer various solutions. The winner of this category was Discount manager team. They have developed an application, which was notifying users about discounts in the near-by stores. The prize was not only the funding of 400,000 AMD but also includes technological and business support from the Center to turn the idea into a sustainable business.
Hovik Abrahamyan, RA Prime Minister made a visit to the participants of Hackathon [YAN] and highlighted the importance of organizing such contests not only in the sense of development of IT field in Armenia but also for the development of efficient technological solutions for various fields of economy. The Prime Minister walked around the hall and learnt about a number of projects of the teams and even tried their product.
Instahire team received the special award of 400,000 AMD from the main sponsors of the contest: the World Bank and the Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF) for their innovative solution targeting social inclusion. Their namesake product is an online platform that helps connect job seekers to employers. The platform will not be useful for job seekers but will also help small and medium-size business to save their resources and find employees in a very short time.
Mergeify, Game engine and Stereo TV teams were awarded with the special prize from Armentel CJSC, the supporter of Hackathon [YAN]. The app of Mergeify allows users to create videos for any statements, based on the existing video library. The team Game engine has developed a very interesting game and Stereo-TV managed to develope a mobile app, which combined two videos and showed on one screen. Mergeify received also the special prize of US Embassy, Kindle:
At the prize awarding ceremony Edmon Maruqyan, the member of National Assembly emphasized the importance of organizing the contest especially in the city of Vanadzor, as thousands of people can not find job while there is a huge demand for IT specialists.
To encourage the teams, founder of various successful IT startups shared their experience and lessons learnt with the teams and gave their professional advice. Edgar Maruqyan, the honorable member of the jury panel and founder of Peyotto Technologies had an open discussion with the contest participants and shared his experience with them. He mentioned that currently there were more than 2000 vacant positions in the country but there was also this huge potential and high quality education opportunities.
Hackathon [YAN] contest has become one of the highly demanded contests in Armenia not only due to its prizes but also due to the warm and encouraging environment, which lasts more than 24 hours and welcomed hundreds of young people to the IT family of Armenia. Every year new partners join the contest and make it a great festival.
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Hackathon [Yan] Childhood 2015 winners announced 
