The Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission has announced the opening of registration for the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Hackathon Competition, in collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship and the King Abdullah II Fund for Development (KAFD). The aim is to develop video games focused on integrity and anti-corruption.
The Commission has stated that the organization of the Integrity Hackathon aims to encourage innovative entrepreneurial initiatives that harness technology in combating and preventing corruption, and spreading and entrenching a culture of national integrity. It seeks at the same time to engage youth in national policies aimed at eradicating corruption by encouraging and motivating them to present innovative initiatives in this field.
The Commission stressed that the launch of this Hackathon comes in response to the Royal directives to enhance the role of national institutions in embracing creativity and innovation. The initiative, it said, aligns with the vision of economic modernization plan aimed at developing creative industries such as electronic games and e-competitions, and comes in line with the outputs of the 2016 London Anti-Corruption Summit.
The Commission has invited creative youth in the fields of game programming and design, and those who love challenges in this field, aged between 18-25, to register for the competition to create innovative video games in the fields of national integrity standards, prevention of and combating acts of corruption, combating money laundering resulting from acts of corruption, and protecting witnesses and whistle blowers in corruption cases. Registration is done by accessing the designated link provided by the Commission through the innovation and training center window on its official website and Facebook page. The link enables contestants to learn about the competition's terms, stages, and prizes for the top three winners. The Commission has also pointed out that registration will be open from January 11th to 20th.
The Commission noted that prizes have been allocated for the winning teams, with the first-place team to receive JD5,000, the second-place team JD3,000, and the third JD2,000. The winning teams will be acknowledged and credited by having their names featured in the game, while the winning games will be published and sponsored through the social media platforms of the Commission, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, the King Abdullah II Fund for Development, the Commission's official website, the Sanad electronic platform, and the electronic platforms of relevant youth agencies. There will also be awareness and media campaigns targeting youth and students, involving these games. Meanwhile, the Jordan Gaming Lab will network the winning teams with international entities concerned with this topic, in encouragement and appreciation of the youth’s efforts.
The Commission has emphasized the importance of ensuring that the game idea shall not contain any religious, social, or moral offense, and that it does not include any public decency violations or immoral or illegal content, even implicitly, or concepts that contradict the mandate and message of the Commission, or any offense to any national figures. It also noted that participants would undergo a training program to be held at the Jordan Gaming Lab in Amman over five working days.