The first E-commerce Hackathon in the State of Qatar with the objective to drive sustained innovation and crowdsource solutions to address, nurture, and launch the latest innovation opportunities in the growing universe of e-commerce.
About the
Hackathon
A time-bound competitive event aimed at participant collaboration to build a proof of concept/prototype for a specific use case identified out of the shortlisted e-commerce categories, this Hackathon is designed to give the brightest thinkers and innovators a platform from which entrepreneurial ideas can be developed.
E-commerce Hackathon Categories
From understanding customers’ buying behavior to providing personalized services to online shoppers, artificial intelligence has become an essential component of the e-commerce industry. This category is for the participants passionate about disrupting the industry further with the innovative use of AI.
Unique mobile commerce is the use of wireless handheld devices like mobile phones and tablets to conduct commercial transactions online, including the purchase and sale of products, online banking, and paying bills. This category is for participants aspiring to improve this increasingly large subset of e-commerce.
E-commerce payment solutions facilitate the acceptance of electronic payments for online transactions. The category is for those participants who intend to change the status quo in this area.
Marketing automation covers the wide area of e-commerce marketing from automating email marketing to scheduling social media posts. This category is for the participants eager to bring in innovative and creative solutions to improve marketing automation.
E-commerce customer experience refers specifically to the digital experience a business delivers to a customer. Choose this category if it is your goal to optimize, orchestrate and inspire experiences that will help guide customers, whether B2B or B2C, along their paths to purchase.
Technologies like AR, VR, 3D Product Visualization, and 3D Product Rendering have opened up a realm of possibilities, improving the customer experience and saving costs for the adapting e-commerce companies. This category is for participants who have ideas to enhance these experiences.
Growing number of e-commerce organizations are now adapting to automated warehouse robot solutions and fulfilment automation for quick and easy management of business. This category is suitable for candidates aspiring to bring about innovation and acceleration in fulfillment automation and robotics.
Last Mile Delivery makes up for over 50 per cent of the total cost of shipping. To override these cost drivers, the tech industry has stepped up to deliver packages directly from local distributors to customers. In this category, candidates who wish to make headways in the Last Mile Delivery Technology are welcome to demonstrate their unique ideas.
E-commerce Hackathon Categories
From understanding customers’ buying behavior to providing personalized services to online shoppers, artificial intelligence has become an essential component of the e-commerce industry. This category is for the participants passionate about disrupting the industry further with the innovative use of AI.
Benefits and Rewards
Preferred access to apply into recently launched initiative by Microsoft. Winners can unlock up to $350,000 in value from Microsoft.
Access of up to QAR 75,000 in
support services & investment.
support services & investment.
Winning teams will be integrated into Snoonu Incubation Program (SIP) for further validation and development.
Access to Investors and partners
to validate your business idea.
to validate your business idea.
Access to local & international
mentors to accelerate your learning.
mentors to accelerate your learning.
Monetary and in-kind rewards
to winners from our sponsors.
to winners from our sponsors.
Platform to showcase
your product or idea.
your product or idea.
Opportunity to make connections
and expand your network.
and expand your network.
Participating Countries
Candidates from the following 10 countries are invited to participate in the E-commerce Hackathon
Qatar
Kuwait
Saudi Arabia
Oman
Jordan
Lebanon
Tunisia
Morocco
Egypt
Turkey
Evaluation Criteria
The ideas and products of the participants will be evaluated on the following basis
Solution Feasibility and Market Fit
Does your idea/product have a business and growth potential?
Contribution to Qatar National Vision 2030
Is your product keeping in line with Qatar’s National Vision 2030?
Team Skills to Execute the Idea
How skilled is your team to get the idea off the ground?
Innovation
How innovative is your idea/product?
Alignment with the theme
How closely aligned is your idea/product with the general hackathon theme?Sponsors
Platinum Strategic Sponsors
Cloud Strategic Sponsor
Technology Strategic Sponsor
Development Strategic Sponsor
Strategic Partners
Media Partners
Interested in becoming a partner or sponsor? Contact us at partnerships@innovationcafe.qa
Judging Panel
Sheikh Mansoor Bin Khalifa Al-Thani
Chairman
MBK Holding
MBK Holding
Hamad Mubark Al-Hajri
Co-founder, CEO & CTO
Snoonu
Snoonu
Mohammed Al-Emadi
Head of Angel Investment
Qatar Development Bank
Qatar Development Bank
Mohammad Zebian
Accelerator Manager
QSTP
QSTP
Dr. Shaikha Al-Jabir
Founding Board Member
Doha Tech Angels
Doha Tech Angels
Mentors
Ramzan Al Naimi
CEO
Innovation Cafe (Qatar)
Innovation Cafe (Qatar)
Hamad Mubark Al-Hajri
Co-founder, CEO & CTO
Snoonu (Qatar)
Snoonu (Qatar)
Sheikh Mansoor Bin Khalifa Al-Thani
Chairman
MBK Holding (Qatar)
MBK Holding (Qatar)
Avinash Deshpande
CEO
MBK Consulting (Qatar)
MBK Consulting (Qatar)
Mohammad Zebian
Accelerator Manager
QSTP (Qatar)
QSTP (Qatar)
Faraj Abdullah
Innovation Program Manager
Qatar Research, Development and Innovation (QRDI) Council (Qatar)
Qatar Research, Development and Innovation (QRDI) Council (Qatar)
Steve Mackie
Founder
Business Start Up Qatar
Business Start Up Qatar
Majed Labebidi
Managing Director
Droobi Health,Co-Founder Fi Technologies (Qatar)
Droobi Health,Co-Founder Fi Technologies (Qatar)
Hefzi Malhis
Partnerships Manager
Innovation Cafe (Qatar)
Innovation Cafe (Qatar)
Dr. Mohammad Hammoud
Founder & CEO
Rimads (Qatar)
Rimads (Qatar)
Dania Khaled
Business Development Mentor
Qatar SportsTech (Qatar)
Qatar SportsTech (Qatar)
Khalid Al-Kubaisi
Practice Head — Cybersecurity
malomatia (Qatar)
malomatia (Qatar)
Layth Hamad
Senior IoT Systems Engineer
Qatar Mobility Innovations Center
Qatar Mobility Innovations Center
Masoud Al - Rawahi
Executive Director
PhazeRo (Oman)
PhazeRo (Oman)
Saleh Al-Mansouri
CEO & Founder
Fatora (Qatar)
Fatora (Qatar)
Muyesser Taqieddin
Co-founder
Innovation Catalysts Institute (USA)
Innovation Catalysts Institute (USA)
Agata Braja
Senior Digital Media Specialist
Qatar Foundation (Qatar)
Qatar Foundation (Qatar)
Zaid Haque
Senior Program Manager
Microsoft Teams (USA)
Microsoft Teams (USA)
Jamal Bdeir
Small and Medium Business Lead
Microsoft (Middle East Cluster)
Microsoft (Middle East Cluster)
Suhaib Ahmad Alkhawaldah
Planning and Strategy Manager
Silatech Organization
Silatech Organization
Dr. Hanan El Basha
Founder | Empowering Business Strategist
The Business Doctor (Qatar)
The Business Doctor (Qatar)
Derin Alpsoy
Marketing Lead
Rimads (Qatar)
Rimads (Qatar)
Badria Mubarak
CEO
Life Windows (Kuwait)
Life Windows (Kuwait)
Gurvinder Batra
Founder, COO & CTO
KiwiTech (USA, India)
KiwiTech (USA, India)
Mohsin Syed
EVP and Chief Startup Officer
KiwiTech (USA, India)
KiwiTech (USA, India)
Ike Syed
VP
KiwiTech (USA)
KiwiTech (USA)
Jeff Wenzel
VP
KiwiTech (USA)
KiwiTech (USA)
Vijay Deep Gupta
VP
KiwiTech (India)
KiwiTech (India)
Allan Villegas
Postdoctoral Research Associate
HEC Paris (Qatar)
HEC Paris (Qatar)
Dave Talenfeld
CEO
Botanisol Analytics (USA)
Botanisol Analytics (USA)
Adam Boujida
CEO - MENA Region
Draper Startup House (Morocco)
Draper Startup House (Morocco)
Peter Ramzy
Head
OASIS Accelerator (Egypt)
OASIS Accelerator (Egypt)
Tamas Szeker
Partnerships Manager
Hackquarters (Turkey)
Hackquarters (Turkey)
Zahir Ali
Head of Venture Capital
Incubate (Qatar)
Incubate (Qatar)
Vikrant Khushu
Sr Director
KiwiTech (India)
KiwiTech (India)
Suresh Singh Dasila
Sr Director
KiwiTech (India)
KiwiTech (India)
Amanpreet Singh
Creative Director UI/UX
KiwiTech (India)
KiwiTech (India)
Marisela Garcia Marquez
Director
KiwiTech (USA)
KiwiTech (USA)
Aicha Ghaffari Latrash
Associate Director
KiwiTech (Qatar)
KiwiTech (Qatar)
Sahil Anand
Marketing Manager
KiwiTech (India)
KiwiTech (India)
Inderdeep Singh
Design Lead
KiwiTech (India)
KiwiTech (India)
Ghaith Al-Qurashi
Cloud & Business
Transformation Consultant
Qatar
Transformation Consultant
Qatar
Taking the
Hackathon Hybrid
The hackathon will be a 4-day hybrid event. The participants who are present in Doha, Qatar, will be participating in-person from Innovation Cafe’s facilities located in Doha and the participants from the other 9 countries will be participating virtually.
We will be using Slack and Zoom as platforms for the hackathon.
We’re inviting university students, startups, entrepreneurs, e-commerce companies, and any potential individual interested and experienced in the e-commerce sector from the selected 10 countries to participate in Qatar’s first e-commerce hackathon.
If you think you have what it takes to disrupt the fast-paced e-commerce industry, we would be more than happy to have you.
Last date to submit your applications is 16 November 2021
Invest in Innovation
The hackathon will be a promising opportunity for investors to get behind e-commerce projects with high potential. If you're an investor who is keen on encouraging innovation in the industry, we invite you to be part of the hackathon and encourage the enormous talent it offers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Innovation Cafe’s E-commerce Hackathon is the first of its kind event in the State of Qatar with the objective to drive sustained innovation and crowdsource solutions to address, nurture, and launch the latest innovation opportunities in the growing universe of e-commerce.
You can apply for the hackathon by filling in the form provided above.
Anyone with an idea that is relevant to the themes of the hackathon is welcome to participate.
We prefer that you do, but don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers; the hackathon will kick off with an ideation phase, which should help you refine your idea.
The hackathon will be hosted in a hybrid mode. The participants already present in Qatar are encouraged to participate from Innovation Cafe’s facilities in Doha. The participants from outside Qatar will be participating virtually and do not need to travel to Doha.
Yes, you can apply for the hackathon as an individual or as a team. You will have an opportunity to find other team members in the hackathon.
Yes, you can apply for the hackathon as an individual or as a team. Make sure to add the details of your team members in the application form.
It’s really up to you (and your team) to decide on the number of hours you want to invest in developing your idea.