Union Bank of the Philippines just recently organized its first ever U:HAC or UnionBank Hackathon and Convention at Cebu City during the weekend of August 6 & 7, 2016.

UHAC Hackathon by Unionbank at Cebu City
Welcome to U:HAC Cebu City

The said event was held at A Space Cebu, Kasambangan, Cebu City, many of the participants who have already registered trooped to the venue to join the hackathon as they showcased their innovative digital solutions to UnionBank executives and officers who served as judges and mentors at the event.

UHAC Hackathon by Unionbank at Cebu City

More than a hundred of mostly students and professionals were present at U:HAC Cebu. The event was opened by UnionBank executives Senior EVP for Retail and Corporate Banking and CitySavings Bank Chairman Eugene Acevedo and SVP and Head of Digital Transformation Group Paolo Baltao with SVP and HR Director Michelle Rubio welcoming the participants.

UHAC Hackathon by Unionbank at Cebu City
Preliminary Pitching & judges listening attentively to the pitches

There were a total of 30 teams at the event with some group members meeting for the first time at the venue. Nevertheless, all were full of enthusiasm and excitement in bringing up the most creative solutions to the 10 wicked challenges presented to them by the organizers.

The challenges ranged on coming up with potential solutions on problems centered on education, unemployment, banking in the future, pollution, climate change, healthcare, poverty, community building, disaster resilience and building sustainability.

The teams selected the challenge they were interested to resolve. With just their laptops and creative juices and a very resilient and strong internet connection, they did an all-nighter to develop their digital solutions and coding to the challenges.

The next day, all 30 teams pitched their projects to the UBP judges and mentors. Based on the criteria of novelty, product creativity, functionality and impact to customers, the top 10 were selected. These top 10 teams again presented their projects. And from that select group, the champion was crowned.

The project LAURELEYE developed by Team LaurelEye composed of students from University of San Carlos was declared first placer for developing an Uber-type web-based platform for tutorials. The project helps individuals find other individuals who are willing to educate them in various topics that both interests them such as arts, culture, academic subjects, etc. The team received P50,000, a trophy and cloud credit from IPC.

UHAC Hackathon by Unionbank at Cebu City
Team LaurelEye is composed of Cris Militante, Gabriel Pineda, Patrick Woogue, Ian Escoton and Anthony Mondoy

The project CITYSIREN developed by the group HatchITSolutions also won a special prize. Their web application uses data mining and data analytics to inform LGU and businesses on the issues that the public are facing day-to-day. The team received a cash prize of P30,000.

UHAC Hackathon by Unionbank at Cebu City
The judges together with the members of HatchIT Solutions composed of , Charles Yu,  Arjay Osma, Pete Matthew Revales, Clifford Lawas and Matthew Rapes

The event gave the participants the knowledge that UnionBank welcomes and supports digital innovations to further embrace Digital Banking. They saw that UnionBank has its own brand of providing unique customer experience through the integration of digital solutions in its operations as it transforms itself in becoming the leading Digital Bank in the Philippines.
 
UHAC Hackathon by Unionbank at Cebu City
The organizing team of U:HAC 2016

U:HAC Cebu was organized in partnership with A Space Cebu, PLDT Innolab and IPC. 

U:HAC’s next leg will be held on August 27-28, 2016 at the Megatrade Hall, SM Megamall. For more details, you can check the website www.uhacph.com or like them on facebook.com/UHac2016. (PR)

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