Not all good ideas come from those that have finished college, in fact some of the best ones came from the curious minds of students. Eastern Telecoms, a telecommunication company in the Philippines is looking to cultivate the next big thing that students can bring out from their imaginations through the Eastern Playground Hackathon.
Partnering with the Philippine Society of Information Technology Educators (PSITE), the initiative seeks to bring together programs that are designed for nation-building, improving the lives of Filipinos, and answering pandemic-related needs. Interested participants can register online until October 13, 2021, with a maximum of five members in Senior High School or College Level.
Aside from the concept, the entries will also be evaluated based on the accessibility of the project. Programs must instill the concept of deep-dive thinking with feasibility studies and must have commercial appeal.
How to win? Pass the 2 rounds. Initial round is the pre-screening process where teams must submit their pitch deck and supporting documents that consist of problem description, target market segment, and solution explanation. Upon evaluating all entries, the Selection Committee will shortlist five schools that will proceed to the next round.
The top 5 chosen will get to slug it out in a 90 second pitch video wioth all the details they can squeeze in to convince the judges.
The judging panel will select three winning projects with the following criteria: innovative or digital technology solution (35%), feasibility (20%), impact (35%), and clarity (10%).
Winners will be announced via Eastern’s Social Media channels and PSITE website and Viber community on November 25, 2021. Aside from the cash prizes that await the winners, the opportunity to undergo immersion and training from Eastern Communications and potentially become employed will also be granted to the members of shortlisted teams
Schools or universities of the finalists will also get free 150-day subscription to Eastern Cloud, a highly customizable cloud platform of Eastern Communications for seamless collaboration and efficiency.
“We are excited to officially launch Eastern Playground and we envision this to be one of the most coveted annual events among students. We want to inspire and empower the new generation of disruptors who are driven to thrive in an increasingly digital economy,” shared Eastern Communications Product and Innovation Head Edsel Paglinawan
“On behalf of Eastern Communications and the entire PSITE, we invite the students to be part of the disruption and create solutions that will be of great use to our community. We look forward to their proposals and we hope that this will encourage the youth to be fearless and think digital for a stronger tomorrow,” said PSITE NCR Chapter President Dr. Samuel Chua.
To register and learn more about the full mechanics of Eastern Playground, visit https://easternplayground.com.ph/.
