CUD hosts Dubai’s first all-women ‘hackathon’

The two-day event brought together female technology experts, entrepreneurs and businesswomen to take part in an intensive team-based competition.

Dubai: Canadian University Dubai (CUD), in association with The Meera Kaul Foundation, has hosted the first ever all-women hackathon event in Dubai.

The two-day event brought together female technology experts, entrepreneurs and businesswomen to take part in an intensive team-based competition to develop their knowledge of coding and come up with a viable business proposal, with the chance of winning $5,000 in prize money.

The event was organised as part of the Women in STEM 2015 initiative, held under the patronage of Shaikh Mohammed bin Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum. The initiative, which also includes a conference and awards ceremony as part of its programme, aims to promote, support and pay tribute to the role of women in science, technology, engineering and math.

CUD became an official partner of the event through its active role in promoting the advancement of women in society, having held its inaugural women’s conference in 2014. The university is also a leading provider of technology-based higher education, with a range of undergraduate programmes on offer through the School of Engineering, Applied Science and Technology, as well as an innovative new Masters programme in Information Technology Management and Governance.

Opening the event, Dr Franziska Apprich, Dean of the Schools of Liberals Arts and Sciences and Environment and Health Sciences at CUD, encouraged the participants to make the most of the opportunity to interact and learn from each other.