Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s tech geniuses will have an opportunity to be part of an acceleration programme of the US University to mature their super tech-ideas.

The unique opportunity comes at the APIthon Chapter 2, being organized by the Abacus Consulting, in the first week of May, where the participants will compete with each other consuming the APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) of telecom companies, banks, ridesharing and booking services to come up with innovative applications.

The APIthon expects the participants to come up with an upgraded or new service(s), by consuming partner companies’ APIs, in their existing or new app and/or revenue stream(s), said Abbas Ali Khan, the Managing Director of the Abacus Consulting, while unveiling the APIthon Chapter 2 schedule here on Friday. He said the participants would be tasked with consuming the APIs in the categories of banking, telecom, ticketing, and ridesharing. The event offers lots of incentives for the participants. “Among so many prizes, one is this opportunity to book a berth in the Draper University, Silicon Valley in California where the winners of the APIthon will hone their skills under the mentorship of international application developers and business leaders,” he said.

Also, IGNITE (formerly National ICT & R&D Fund) is the major partner of the event. IGNITE will review the ideas emerging at the APIthon, and will help the winners and the participants mature their ideas and get seed funding.

Earlier, in the APIThon, Chapter 1, more than 300 tech wizards from across the country had applied in January at the National Incubation Centre of the Lahore University of Management Sciences out which 20 teams were selected to participate.

“The APIthon, Chapter 1, was a great success in terms of the participation of the intelligent lot. In the APIThon Chapter 2, we’ve won the strategic partnership of local and foreign companies and the premium partnership will establish new trends in the API-oriented digital economy in Pakistan,” said Abbas Ali Khan.

Locally, Abacus Consulting has partnered with Jazz, Telenor 4G, UBER, Bookme.pk, and JS Bank for the APIthon. Other partners include TiE Islamabad, Ignite and the National Incubation Centre, Islamabad.

The APIthon, Chapter 2, will be held on May 5 and 6 at the National Incubation Centre, Islamabad.

Abbas Ali Khan said such events should be held by other well-established companies too as a corporate social responsibility so that the tech-savvy youth could get a level-playing platform to exhibit their skills. “World’s most successful ventures were conceived in such positive competitions; such competitions, in fact, create an atmosphere of cooperation for both the application developer and the company. The end result is win-win for the developer, the company, and the end consumer,” he concluded.

Published in Daily Times, April 14^th 2018.