“Accessible Banking Hackathon”, which was organized for the first time in the field of Accessible Banking in Türkiye by a bank and a technology company, set the stage for promising projects with innovative ideas of the youth. Teams that advanced to the final in the event, which was held in Microsoft İstanbul Office on October 23 and 24, presented their projects, developed for accessible financial solutions, to the jury and the prizes were awarded. 

“Accessible Banking Hackathon”, organized with the goal of offering an inclusive and accessible banking experience to all individuals in the society, was finalized. Prizes were awarded to teams that ranked among the top three in the event where 10 teams competed for 48 hours. Proteus team, which ranked first in the contest, received the prize with its “One for All” project. Silent Link team ranked second with its “Live Translation with Sign Language” project, while Subset team ranked third with its “Performance of Banking Transactions with Eye Tracking System” project. Prizes were awarded to ranking teams by jury members. 

270 teams and 655 individuals from different regions of Türkiye applied to the hackathon, which was the first event where a bank and a technology company came together in the field of Accessible Banking in Türkiye. 10 teams that advanced to the finals had the opportunity to present their valuable projects, developed specifically for Accessible Banking, at the end of the two-day hackathon. Participants also received support from the mentor team of 30 people, comprising Alternatif Bank and Microsoft Türkiye teams, when they were developing artificial intelligence solutions, which would facilitate banking transactions for disabled individuals, on Microsoft Azure platform. 

The jury that evaluated the projects comprised; Cloud Technologies Architecture Leader Barbaros Günay, Alternatif Bank Human Resources EVP Bike Tarakcı, Microsoft Accessibility Manager Duygu Kayaman, Researcher and Writer Hakan Özgül, İstanbul Bilgi University Academic Member Prof. Dr. Kenan Çayır, CXO Medya Founder and CIO Update Magazine Executive Editor Murat Yıldız, Capital Magazine Co-Editor and CEO Life Magazine Editorial Director Özlem Aydın Ayvacı, and Alternatif Bank Information Technologies and Operations EVP Zafer Vatansever. 

In this hackathon organized by Coderspace, which combined technology, creativity, and social benefit under the theme of ‘accessibility’, participants developed innovative solutions that would facilitate access to banking products and services and make daily banking experience more efficient for the disabled. 

Alternatif Bank CEO Ozan Kırmızı made the following comments regarding the event: “The Accessible Banking Hackathon, which we organized with Microsoft Türkiye team, is the first event organized in Türkiye with the cooperation of a bank and a technology company in the field of Accessible Banking. We did not just organize a contest with this project; we believe that we are offering a new perspective where finance, technology, and social benefit overlap. Productivity, imagination, and solution-oriented approaches of the youth gave us hope for the future. Our young friends created invaluable projects for two days. I congratulate all teams that contributed and I wish they will inspire our sector.”

Microsoft Türkiye Corporate Solution Sales and D&I EVP Elif Acar Özgüner pointed out that Microsoft was a company that positions accessible life at the core of its functions, and stated “We are very eager to materialize the ideas to be generated here today. We will inspire you with technology and try to discover Accessible Banking scenarios together. As Microsoft, in line with our global vision, we consider how we can make a product more accessible beginning from its design, perform tests when we materialize it, and then receive feedback from user to evaluate how we can improve it continuously. I would like to emphasize that this is one of our fundamental disciplines. On the other hand, we attach great importance to the ecosystem; we have many business partners developing solutions to enable accessible life”.  

Alternatif Bank Information Technologies and Operations EVP Zafer Vatansever said, “Invaluable ideas, which would strengthen financial access and enable an inclusive banking experience for everyone, emerged in the hackathon that our Bank organized in cooperation with Microsoft Türkiye. It is quite inspiring to see how our youth can steer accessible technologies with artificial intelligence solutions developed on Microsoft Azure. I would like to thank all participants that made a difference with their ideas”. 

Alternatif Bank Brand, Communication, Sustainability and Customer Experience Department Manager Hande Yağcı made the following remarks for the event: “Accessible Banking is not only a social responsibility approach; it is one of the major titles of our brand and it is at the heart of our strategic priorities for the future. This hackathon has significant value for us in terms of incorporating vision of the youth into our goal of creating accessible financial solutions for everyone. As Alternatif Bank, we position inclusive and people-oriented banking approach, which eliminates obstacles, as an integral part of our brand culture. Thus, ideas that emerged today are not just projects; they are firm steps that inspire the future of our brand.”

Microsoft Accessibility Manager Duygu Kayaman stated that Microsoft operated in many areas from aviation to banking and retail in order to develop AI-based solutions for accessibility needs and introduced Microsoft’s audio barcode scanner app for the blind, SeeingAI. Cloud and Artificial Intelligence Manager Damla Alkan, speaking after Kayaman, shared information about activities and free trainings conducted by Microsoft in the field of accessibility; while Data and Artificial Intelligence Solution Architect Mustafa Aşıroğlu mentioned the accessibility tools embedded in Microsoft Copilot and indicated that such technologies considerably facilitated the lives of disabled individuals. Microsoft Southeast Europe Regional CTO Onur Koç, making a presentation titled “The Future of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics” in the event, addressed the rapid development of artificial intelligence and shared his predictions about what awaited us in the future during his speech where he emphasized that the key attribute that separated humans from machines was curiosity.

A total of TRY 180k reward to the participants!

In the hackathon, the first-ranking group received TRY 100,000, the second-ranking group received TRY 50,000, and the third-ranking group received TRY 30,000 prizes awarded by Alternatif Bank.