Youngsters Have Created Solutions for Individuals with Disabilities for the "Coding Tomorrow" Idea Marathon

The fifth idea marathon was held online as part of "Coding Tomorrow", a Vodafone Turkey Foundation and Habitat Association joint project. The teams participating in the idea marathon organized with the theme of "Removing Barriers with AI" developed ideas to make life easier for people with disabilities. The Star Team team won the first place in the marathon with their "Viewpoint Camera" application.

Implemented by Vodafone Turkey Foundation and Habitat Association, the "Coding Tomorrow" project continues to prepare children and youth for the digital future. The fifth idea marathon organized within the project, which has reached over 225,000 children across Turkey, was held online with the theme of "Removing Barriers with AI". In the event organized with the participation of high school students, the participating teams came up with ideas to make the lives of people with disabilities easier by using AI (Artificial Intelligence). During the idea marathon, the teams joined the training and mentoring sessions and received guidance from 5 mentors on disability awareness and developing their ideas. The idea marathon also included technical training on effective presentation and business model canvas preparation. While 58 students applied to the idea marathon in 20 teams, 5 of them competed in the final stage.

In the competition, Zeynep Kolçak and İclal Koçak's team, Star Team, won first, Belinay Azra Aydın, Aleyna Tellioğlu, and Alime Berra Arslan's team, Kod Pembesi (Coding Pink), won second, and Feridun Pınarbaşı, Ömer Hakim, Samet Şeyhanlıoğlu, and Taha Yasin Yanmaz's team, İlgitech, won third place.

While evaluating the ideathon, Mr. Hasan Süel, the Chair of Vodafone Turkey Foundation, stated:

"As Vodafone Turkey Foundation and Habitat Association, we eagerly continue our 'Coding Tomorrow' project, which we launched six years ago to raise generations ready for the digital future. When we were considering how to use technology for humanity's good and respond to a social need of society, we decided to do a project first to increase people's technology literacy and their tendency to use technology, starting with children. Thus, in collaboration with the Habitat Association, we started teaching our children aged 7-14 to code, the digital world language, in August 2016. With our 'Coding Tomorrow' project, we aim to contribute to raising a generation that produces, not consumes. Until today, we have given coding training to over 225,000 children in 81 provinces. With online idea marathons, we aim to help our children and youngsters find solutions to concrete social problems. In our fifth idea marathon, our students produced solutions to improve the life of disabled people. We congratulate each of our participants, especially the top three teams."

Mr. Sezai Hazır, the Board Chair of Habitat Association , also stated:

"We feel right happy and proud to expand the scope of our Coding Tomorrow project, which we implemented with the collaboration of Vodafone Turkey Foundation 6 years ago and helped over 225,000 children in Turkey's 81 provinces meet with coding. The previous years have shown us that learning how to code is as important as literacy. With our project, we develop processes that guide our country's digital transformation, thereby contributing to the prepare our children for the digital world of the future. With our "Idea Marathon for Removing Barriers with AI" organized as part of our project, we have contributed to finding ideas to improve the life quality of disabled individuals who encounter various problems in their social lives. In the idea marathon, where students utilized and channeled AI technologies, we once again witnessed the ability of technology to overcome obstacles. I would like to congratulate all our participants and winners, wishing them continued success."

"Viewpoint Camera" app won first place

The "Viewpoint Camera" application developed by the Star Team team, the winner of the idea marathon, aims to improve the lives of visually impaired individuals. The Field of View Camera has an AI-powered system with a wide field of view that can be attached to clothing and activated with a single button. This system allows the application to recognize the objects around a visually impaired individual and save these objects in its memory. Therefore, the application ensures the safety of these individuals by helping them stay away from the dangers around them. With the application, visually impaired individuals can also listen to texts they point to the camera aloud. Moreover, the application's navigation feature helps them reach their destination most accurately and safely.

The project has reached over 225,000 children

Within the "Coding Tomorrow" project, children between 7-14 across Turkey receive theoretical and practical training by volunteer trainers on various subjects, including the introduction to programming, algorithm logic, application development, storytelling, and game development. Our training helps our children understand programming, work to bring out their creativity, create their imaginary worlds, and produce their games. As part of the "Coding Tomorrow", which has reachedover 225,000 children in 81 provinces to date, 6,6 million TRY of social value was obtained in one year, and each investment of 1 TRY for the project yielded a social return of 4,4 TRY.