Hackathon: A Data Challenge for Indian App Developers, Upto US$5k Funding

Streamr, a decentralized network for real time data, has announced plans to expand their developer ecosystem to India with the launch of the Streamr Data Challenge, an open innovation program that leverages the Indian developer ecosystem to build digital-first applications that can integrate with Streamr’s Data Union framework.

The open innovation program will provide winning projects with up to US$5000 in funding seed funding opportunities through its investor network and mentoring to build a strong foundation for capital-efficient growth on a case-by-case basis depending on viability.

“We are very excited to connect with the vibrant developer ecosystem in India. We think that Streamr’s Data Union framework can be used as a meaningful tool to solve key problems in data collection, usage, and availability – problems that consumers and businesses face on a daily basis. The goal of the Streamr Data Challenge is to build new tools to democratize the value of our data and to find new ways for users to own and control their data,” said Henri Pihkala, Founder and CEO of Streamr.

The 16-week ‘Streamr Data Challenge’ hackathon is launched in partnership with Singapore based Lumos Labs, an innovation management firm specializing in running technology open innovation programs in India. The registrations are open from today for developers across India. Find more details on the challenge and the registration process here.

For Indian App Developers in the Global Data Consumption Market

India is leading the global data consumption market with increasing mobile data connectivity (3G/4G), falling data tariffs, rising smartphone penetration, and growth in broadband connectivity across India. The exponential data growth in India is projected to continue, with Internet traffic expected to increase four-fold from 21 exabytes in 2016 to an estimated 78 exabytes in 2021, as per the report by Omidyar Networks.

Streamr understands the huge concern to data privacy and the need to identify feasible concepts solving problems in the big data space and thereby are expanding their developer base in India.

Through the Data Challenge, Streamr will enable app developers across India to identify solutions that offer data monetization opportunities to its users, with the aim of decentralizing data control in an emerging global and massive machine data economy. For example, Streamr’s Data Union framework could be integrated into an existing fitness app to enable users to sell their workout-routine information.

Spanning over four months, the program includes incentives such as a US$200 grant to each team that qualifies for the first cohort. The Data challenge will be interspersed by multiple meetups and webinars and will begin with a one-week long mentor session, followed by a two-week-long intensive acceleration period. The ongoing support ranges from access to tech guidance on projects, networking opportunities, PR support, and more.

Streamr

Streamr is a distributed, open-source, software project, founded in 2017 with the mission of creating a decentralized platform to trade and distribute information, while allowing people to regain control over the data they produce. Through its Data Union concept, individuals can crowdsell their information through the Streamr Network along with their fellow Data Union members. Scalable, low-latency, and secure, the Streamr Network is designed for safe data delivery and exchange.

Navanwita Bora Sachdev

Navanwita is the editor of The Tech Panda who also frequently publishes stories in news outlets such as The Indian Express, Entrepreneur India, and The Business Standard