Retail player Atlas looks to hackathon for innovation boost

  • Partners JomHack Malaysia to organise the first Malaysian Smart Retail Hackathon
  • Teams of 3 compete for a US$6.3K prize pool, with special bounty prizes in store

Retail player Atlas looks to hackathon for innovation boostFOOD and beverage (F&B) vending machine player, Atlas Vending Malaysia Sdn Bhd, is looking to Malaysian coders for innovation ideas via a virtual hackathon, dubbed Atlas Hack, organised by corporate innovation outfit JomHack Malaysia.

According to Amy Gan, head of marketing & ancillary sales for Atlas (pic above), Covid-19 has necessitated digital transformation in all industries, especially in the F&B line, and this is why Atlas is looking to engage more tech talents in Malaysia to shift their attention to retail businesses.

Touted as Malaysia’s first smart retail hackathon, the event will run from March 7 to March 9. Interested participants can be anyone who is keen in technology, innovation, coding, Internet of Things (IoT), or simply interested to create something to revolutionise the retail industry, Atlas and JomHack Malaysia said in a statement.

“We realised that this Covid-19 situation has forced many businesses, especially in retail, to innovate or pivot in order to survive, and this has inspired us to do more for our retail ecosystem,” said Gan.

“We also know that there are so many incredible tech talents in this country and it is time for Atlas to create more programmes to engage these talents and work with them to create better opportunities for Malaysia, while improving our retail ecosystem.”

Interested parties are to assemble a three-person team and sign-up here. The closing date is March 1. Registered teams will be invited for a virtual kickoff briefing on March 5 to dive into the problem statements before kicking off the virtual hackathon.

Atlas is offering a pool of US$6,334.35 (RM25,600 )in cash prizes to be won, including special bounty prizes. The top three teams will walk away with RM10,000, RM5,000 and RM2,500 respectively. Also in the mix is a RM300 consolation prize for the 4th to 10th placed teams.

Participants will also have the opportunity to win three bounty prizes of RM2,000 each, if they choose to work on any of the bounty projects suggested by the organisers. These projects will be made known on the event website, under each of the main challenges.

[RM1 = US$0.247]

The main event, which is the three-day virtual hackathon, will be conducted through an interactive virtual event platform, where teams will be guided by highly experienced mentors to help them finish up their projects. The Grand Finals for the top 10 teams will be held on the March 13.

 

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