Qatar Development Bank wrapped up the Qatar Innovation Hackathon 2024, which brought together the bank’s various business incubators and accelerators under the theme “Unleash your ideas. Unlock the future” to offer 25,000 Qatari riyals in pre-investment awards for each winner as well as the opportunity for direct access to one of the incubation programs in QDB's incubators and access to investment opportunities.
The Hackathon was designed in collaboration with 26 specialized partners to empower Qatar’s ambitious and innovative entrepreneurs to share their creative ideas and solutions to tackle challenges across 6 industry-specific themes.
84 startups out of 445 applicants qualified to participate in the hackathon, pitching innovative solutions and ideas to tackle 17 challenges across various fields after undergoing intensive training with 50 coaches, 450 mentoring sessions, and 25 workshops over the weekend.
Commenting on the hackathon, Dr. Hamad Salem Mejegheer, QDB’s Executive Director of Advisory and Incubation, said this year’s edition featured an engaging competition and exceptional innovation in various fields. “We must thank all applicants for their efforts and ideas as well as all partners who contributed to this edition. This occasion represents a unique opportunity to provide support and bolster the Qatari entrepreneurship ecosystem, an objective that Qatar Development Bank has been long committed to in accordance with our goals to foster a diversified and knowledge-based national economy.” Dr. Mejegheer also noted the improved quality of startups this year, attributing this to the inspiration and experience gained from events like the Web Summit Qatar.
Alongside QDB, several entities contributed to organizing and implementing this year’s edition of the hackathon. Ooredoo and Q-Auto sponsored themes by contributing the pre-investment awards for specific themes. Additionally, Hamad Bin Khalifa University Innovation Center provided the Minaretein Center venue for four days and participated in the judging committee. Meanwhile, Microsoft Qatar participated in organizing a specialized workshop, while IBM offered its innovative WatsonX platform to empower participants in addition to taking part in the judging panel and presenting a number of workshops and training sessions. Builder AI, on the other hand, contributed to facilitating the work of participants by providing access to BuilderStudio for prototyping. Qatar Museums, represented by the Museum of Islamic Art, has also contributed to this year’s edition by hosting a workshop and participating in the
7 startups won in the Tech Transformation category, while 3 others secured awards in the EnterpriseTech theme, under the Digital & Beyond Incubator, in partnership with Ooredoo.. 2 winners also emerged in the Sportstech theme, while 3 startups secured awards in the MobilityTech theme, under the Mobility Incubator, in partnership with Q-Auto and Volkswagen Qatar. In the FinTech theme, 6 startups won prizes with the support of Qatar Central Bank and Qatar Financial Center while one startup won in the CreativeTech theme. In addition to that, QDB this year introduced grant awards to recognize outstanding achievements in the categories of Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, presented to the winner by HBKU Innovation Center, the Impactful Pitch Award presented by Microsoft, the AI Innovation Award, presented by IBM, and the Design Innovation Award, presented by Builder.ai.
The hackathon competitions organized annually by QDB’s various business incubators and accelerators help entrepreneurs tap unique opportunities in terms of accessing knowledge, financial support, and mentoring, as well as incubation programs. For more, please visit the link: