(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/Andrew Rich)

Programmers, designers, and other creative individuals will team-up with ECD (Early Childhood Development) practitioners during tomorrow's hackathon with the aim of creating mobile applications to benefit children most at risk in our society. 

The hackathon is being hosted by Innovation Edge, IBM, Silicon Cape and the SA Innovation Summit at the Cape Town stadium in Green Point, Africa. It's being driven from the overwhelming evidence that quality learning programmes stimulate individual growth and impact positively on national achievement.

SA Innovation Summit offers many exciting possibilities for addressing challenges within the early learning space.

Africa can face many issues when it comes to providing quality education and healthcare to children early in their development. Recent innovations however are proving this doesn't have to be the case, such as the 'JustMilk' wearable device which delivers key antibiotics, antimalarials, antiretrovirals, vitamins, nutrients, and probiotics. 

Participants are hoping to find solutions to a myriad of challenges during the event including; the lack of responsive care, an absence of early stimulation, lack of child safety, lack of parental involvement, and vital training for practitioners. 

“A platform such as the SA Innovation Summit offers many exciting possibilities for addressing challenges within the early learning space. We hope to harness the creative thinking and technological know-how of the people attending the Summit and encourage them to apply their skills to resolving problems children in South Africa, and their caregivers, face on a daily basis,” said Sonja Giese, programme leader at the Innovation Edge. 

The hackathon will be hosted over 24-hours, however, IBM will be providing training days a week before the event for its powerful Bluemix platform in order to ensure developers are prepared and can be at their most efficient during the limited hours of the actual hackathon. 

Solutions emerging from the event will be judged by a panel of technology and ECD experts and awarded prizes based on their creativity, feasibility, cost-effectiveness and potential for implementation at scale. 

For more information, head to the SA Innovation Summit website here. 

Do you think challenges with childhood development can be helped with a hackathon? Let us know in the comments.