Here are the 4 Winners of the EU Social DigiThon Competition

The grand event of the EU Social DigiThon has entered its final series. After going through the competition and judging process, EU Social DigiThon officially announced a number of winners who were considered to have succeeded in spawning digital innovations for vulnerable groups.

As stated in the press release we received, the European Union delegation to Indonesia together with the Indonesian IoT (Internet of Things) Association (ASIOTI) announced the 4 (four) winning teams from the hackathon competition which started in January 2021. The four teams are; DukaEuy with the project name "Anti-Violence Bracelet", for Mothers with the project name "For Mothers: Indonesian Women's Health Center and Pregnancy Support Journal", DTRON Team with the project name "DTRON Smart Chair", and Solutioners with the project name "E-Learning Applications for People with Disabilities Disability, Sensory Based Artificial Intelligence (ELAIS)”.

The following is a profile of each team that won the EU Social DigiThon event.

• SorrowEuy

Fronted by three students from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), the DukaEuy team raised the issue of violence against women. Through EU Social DigiThon, the DukaEuy team tries to provide a technology-based solution by developing a GAK (Anti-Violence Bracelet) mobile application that is connected to IoT devices. Broadly speaking, this application functions as a tool to give early warnings of possible crimes or violence. This tool can also be used as evidence for acts of violence committed against women.

• For Mother

Departing from a sense of concern for the many community groups who have become more vulnerable due to the pandemic, especially women. The team for Mothers is trying to create a health center application and pregnancy travel companion journal for women. This application is here to convey information and facilitate the ins and outs of childbirth procedures in the midst of a pandemic. For Mother's features include searching for hospitals with real time facility data, pregnancy journals, midwife information and swab or health test services, BPJS information integration.

• DTRON (Sales to Brazil only)

It consists of two members, namely Yudhis Thiro Kabul Junior and Fattaa Septian Dwi Cahyo. They added the ability to wheelchairs for people with disabilities, which were named the Dtron Smart Chair. This wheelchair is equipped with a Voice Recognition System, Eye Navigation System & Manual Control System using an Android Smartphone with the concept of Integrated Artificial Intelligence. With this system, users can move more freely using their wheelchair. Not only that, this system also allows users to get information about the development of Covid-19

• Solutions

The team, consisting of students from Purwokerto, tried to start from their concern for people with disabilities who have difficulty in online learning. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based E-learning applications help people with sensory disabilities, namely blind, deaf, and speech disabilities in carrying out online teaching and learning activities. This is possible because this technology is able to convert sign language into text for communication with teachers, producing output in the form of sound to guide the blind, making it easier for blind people to access assignments and e-learning materials.

With the theme “Young Action for Change”, EU Social DigiThon targets to at least be able to produce technology-based solutions for vulnerable groups that were previously untouched by technology. In his release, Vincent Piket, as the EU Ambassador to Indonesia, said that social and human rights issues should be handled through the latest technological innovations.

“Through this competition, we want to create links between digital information, technology, and solutions to social and human rights problems that have arisen due to the COVID19 pandemic. Through EU Social DigiThon, we also want to build closer relationships with young Indonesians. We received an overwhelming response from young people who use their creativity and critical thinking to solve real-life problems in their own environment with self-invented solutions,” he said.

Of the total 196 proposals submitted, most of the innovation ideas focused on issues related to equality, youth, disability, child protection, and the like that were affected by the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. The assessment criteria carried out by the jury raised four elements that must be present in the innovation. The four elements are: socioeconomic benefits, originality of ideas, level of creativity, and expected impact.

In terms of technology, Fita Indah Maulani as the Secretary General of ASIOTI said she hoped that after this event was over, the technological solutions that were born by these young innovators would have consistent sustainability.

“A number of proposals are even ready to be pushed into prototypes and some can be commercialized. We also saw the creativity of participants in leveraging a wide variety of IoT to strengthen the functionality of their solutions. I hope that these winners can continue to develop their solutions, so that the positive impact can be felt directly by the community, "said Fita.

Komnas Perempuan commissioner, Andy Yentriyani also commented that innovation with a real impact is one of the main references to determine the winner of this competition.

“The proposals we received were varied and interesting. We are looking for ideas for solutions that are really needed by vulnerable groups to make their lives easier in the midst of this pandemic situation. Besides the impact must be real in protecting, increasing dignity, and creating inclusiveness for its target users, this solution must not create new problems due to its use," he added.

One of the challenges for innovation to have strong sustainability is related to the support to be able to convert ideas into real executions. The EU Social DigiThon event also provides related support, one of which is by providing financial support to turn ideas into reality. The financial support in question is in the form of cash prizes worth a total of 120 million rupiah which is given to the four winners. Not only that, a mentoring program led by experts from the European Union has also been prepared to accelerate the four winners to realize their ideas for a better life for vulnerable groups.