AUCA alum organizes the International Hackathon Garage48 in Bishkek

September 3, 2015

Aziz Soltobaev, AUCA Alum of the Economics Department (2003), Chairman of KG Labs Public Foundation, and co-founder of the local Internet shop Svetofor Company, is one of the organizers of the International Hackathon Garage48. The event will take place on September 11-13, 2015 at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in Bishkek. 

Aziz gave us a few details about the upcoming event.

Tell us more about this event. Why is this event held? What plans do you have for the three days?

This is the inaugural Garage48 event in Bishkek. Garage48 is an international event franchise that has taken place in Estonia, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Oman, over five countries in Africa, and other countries. With sponsorship and support from Microsoft, Garage48 is excited to expand into Central Asia. The Estonian Development Agency is funding the event.

Who are the participants? How are they selected?

Participants for each team should include: Designer/UX Guru, Front-end developers, Mobile Developers, Back-end developers, Project managers, and Marketing specialists. Anyone can apply and participate if they have the appropriate skillset to fit one of theses roles.

Who is running the event? And who will be judging the projects?

This event was organized by KG Labs, the Garage48 Estonian Team, and Microsoft. The event uses the international format developed in Estonia and will be overseen by ten mentors who are based in Estonia. Local mentors will also be used. KG Labs will handle the logistical and organizational issues. The judges will be a mixture of Estonian mentors and local and international IT, project management, and marketing experts.

What will participants get out of this event? 

Currently, for the price of a ticket, participants will receive international training in launching a business using the format implemented by the Estonian team. The quality of education from these international experts is worth far more than the ticket price, and we encourage people to come and learn from these experts. Prizes currently include: four Nokia Lumia tablet phones for the best startup to use a Microsoft platform, and other devices. Grand prizes will be announced in the next couple of days.

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