KATHMANDU, Feb 8 : With an aim to promote better urban living through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the CityApp Appathon is being organized in the capital in preparation for the participation of Nepal´s own ICT applications in the World City Summit to be held in Singapore on 1 June.

The Appathon is expected to develop applications that offer solutions to the problems that city dwellers face. As Kathmandu has been nominated as the first city for the launching of Solutions for Cities program, App demo programs will be held here from March 14-16 as a part of the preparation.

The CityApp, supported by Microsoft and CityNet attempts to connect the creative power of independent software vendors and application developers across Asia, said the organizers of the Nepali Youth at Guthi (NYG).

During an orientation, the NYG discussed with Nepali youths involved in the ICT field on developing the app to check the availability of doctors at a particular hospital or check taxi fares using mobile phone.

Anil Sthapit, director at GUTHI, mentioned that the goal of the program is to create sustainable software applications for the economic, commercial and social benefit of city governments, citizens, and businesses in the region.

Dr Nabees Man Singh Pradhan, senior orthopedic surgeon at Patan Hospital suggested that it would be helpful for patients if a mobile app can tell them the doctors´ availability in a hospital and find out whether the composition of drugs at a pharmacy matches to the ones prescribed by doctors.

The cities across the country that are set to participate in the Appathon will provide consultation and offer guidance on the economic and social needs of the city as well as and insight into the key priorities of the specific agencies and offices,” Junu Thapa, manager at Microsoft Innovative Center, Nepal.
Padma Sunder Joshi, program manager at UN Habitat, said that the use of ICT has become vital to solve ever-increasing problems of the city. “We should be more sensibly working toward developing the people centric apps,” he urged.

Nabin Bhandari, a member of NYG, commented that CityApp challenge would motivate the young graduates to work toward coming up with sustainable solutions to ease city issues. A visually impaired youth Bishal Dulal expressed that he was excited to find solutions to combat his own urban challenges using the apps.

Published on 2014-02-09 00:19:21

Source: REPUBLICA