Showcasing Six Digital Innovations for SDGs on Virtual Demo Day 2020
Promising young tech entrepreneurs are stepping up and driving Myanmar’s digital transformation toward a new phase. The virtual Demo Day event, hosted by “Innovation Hub – supporting the SDGs,” presented a total of six digital innovations created by Myanmar’s talented tech startups, namely five winning teams and one runner-up team from the 2019 Hackathon organized jointly by UNDP and Ooredoo Myanmar.
The virtual Demo Day event was indeed a much-awaited debut stage for these young tech startups who aced the national competition and then successfully completed the Innovation Hub’s intensive training and mentoring programme in addition to volunteering their services for the Innovation Hub’s COVID-19 collaborations amongst other initiatives such as Myanmar’s digital celebration of the 2020 World Environment Day. 
Photo Source http://www.ooredoo.com.mm
During the joint Ooredoo-UNDP Hackathon in 2019, the cohorts started creating prototypes of their digital solutions to address pressing challenges Myanmar is facing, i.e., climate change, education and rural development, while helping achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
Their journey in the pursuit of digital innovation in the midst of COVID-19 outbreak, has not been easy. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the services of the Innovation Hub were moved online including the incubation and mentoring sessions as well as its Tech 101 digital webinar series. The temporary closure affected the cohorts’ access to the Innovation Hub’s co-working space, technical support and business networks.
However, the Innovation Hub’s digital events continued to amplify youth voices and provide platforms for the youth to engage in policy dialogue. U Kyaw Zin Hted, COO of the 2019 Hackathon Winning Team “Innovatory” whose mobile app “Sein” was highlighted today, in fact, participated earlier this year as a youth representative in the virtual panel discussion to celebrate World Environment Day 2020.
The six digital innovations presented today to showcase the potential to accelerate both digital transformation and sustainable development of Myanmar. Team TweeTwee’s TweeBot and Team Garage’s Mentiply are set up to digital solutions for quality education which are made even more relevant in the COVID-19 context; Team AgriLight’s de4up and Team Glorius’s Sein Lan provide digital access to finance and market for rural development; Team Innovatory’s Sein seeks to promote Myanmar’s green e-commerce platform, and Team F’s Clinic One provides digital health services. Photo Source http://www.ooredoo.com.mm
Demo Day represents the conclusion of the 2019 Hackathon journey, under the overall umbrella of the productive partnership between Ooredoo Myanmar and UNDP. “Innovation Hub – supporting the SDGs” is a co-working space for youths and tech entrepreneurs to showcase, scale-up and collaborate on innovative ideas to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through digital innovation.
“The Hackathon” is a special initiative of Ooredoo Myanmar and UNDP Myanmar to promote and scale up digital innovation and entrepreneurship amongst the youth in Myanmar through a combination of challenge and business incubation. It aims to provide a platform for Myanmar’s youth to create prototypes that showcase innovative ideas to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through digital innovation.
