ComBank sponsored ‘Hack:bit 2020’ a spectacular success

Six teams of students from local schools and universities have been recognised for demonstrating their coding skills by developing innovative and useful applications, and have won a fully-equipped IT Lab, laptops, electronic devices, microcontroller kits, and other equipment from the Commercial Bank of Ceylon.

The talent search was launched in the form of ‘Hack:bit 2020,’ a virtual hackathon organised by the STEMUp Educational Foundation whose mission is to inspire and engage with students to interest them to pursue scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) degrees and careers. The CSR Trust of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon was a sponsor of the event and extended its support to this exemplary tech competition to pave the way to build a collaborative platform for young Sri Lankans who are interested in innovation through technology.

Commenting on the sponsorship, Commercial Bank Managing Director Mr S. Renganathan said: “The CSR Trust of the Bank already invests 70% of its funds to promote education in Sri Lanka. In Hack:bit 2020, we saw another opportunity to be a part of encouraging young minds to pursue their passion for technology and create practical solutions to existing problems. While we congratulate the winning teams, we believe that each participant was ultimately a winner as he or she was exposed to a wealth of tech knowledge that will be useful in innovating for the future. Participating in this hackathon could also be a gold star on a résumé, especially for those with limited experience in the tech field.”

The national level hackathon for school students and university undergraduates, Hack:bit 2020 invited participants to use programming tools and languages of their choice to develop innovative products of relevance to the real world. After receiving over 200 applications, a panel of judges assessed the initial participants based on criteria including uniqueness of the idea, innovativeness, implementation, business value, and sustainability of the developed product. The panel of judges comprised local technology and academic professionals with years of domain expertise between them.