Abdulqadir Rashik, entrepreneur and founder of India-based Miavy Systems, has won the fi rst prize
in a UN competition aimed at engaging the public in sharing ideas about how to visualise the interlinkages between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The prize is called the ‘United Nations #LinksSDGs Data Visualisation Challenge’.
He won it for ‘Links to Sustainable Cities’, which is an interactive visualisation tool that identifies and maps the links between SDG 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities, and the other 16 Goals. By identifying the number, type and directionality of links, the tool identifi es which goals would most likely create opportunities for, or barriers to, the development of cities and communities that are inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The solutions submitted as part of the #LinksSDGs Challenge will be
used to identify further research opportunities and guide policy decisions around the implementation of global sustainability initiatives, the UN said. Accepting his award, Rashik said, “If my solution results in uplifting the standard of living of even a single family, I would count it as one of my greatest achievements.”
LinksSDGs is the third challenge issued by Unite Ideas, a big data crowdsourcing platform developed by the Offi ce of Information and Communications Technology to facilitate collaboration among academia, civil society and UN offices, and to mobilise data scientists and software developers worldwide to help tackle the complex issues faced by the world body and its member states though the creation of open source solutions. Rashik founded Miavy Systems five years ago. He worked with Infosys before that.
