Universities battle it out to triumph in first ever enterprise mobility competition

Wednesday, 8 December 2010 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

The Inter University Enterprise Mobility Software Development Competition 2010 held for the first time ever and incorporated all the major universities and IT institutions in the country announced the winners of the competition at an awards ceremony held earlier this week following a long process that spanned over half a year since the initiation of the competition in June 2010.

A group from the University of Ruhuna walked off with the coveted first place and a cash prize of Rs. 100,000 while teams from the University of Moratuwa and the Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) took the second and third places respectively.

The competition was the brainchild of the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Centre of Excellence for Mobile and Telcos along with Motorola Technologies Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd. who was also the principle sponsor of the event and SLASSCOM. The aim of the competition was to allow undergraduates of Sri Lankan universities and colleges affiliated with them to explore, expose and promote their innovative skills.

A stringent judging process narrowed down the 44 proposals initially received down to a mere 12 entries and the students who created them were then subjected to hands on experience at a boot camp and mentors from Motorola who coached them on the new technology. The competition also exposed the students to the latest technology and allowed them to practically apply what they had so far learned in their respective universities.

“The whole competition was conducted very well and I am very happy to see all the universities in collaboration. It is also very heartening to see the younger generation taking such an initiative to promote this industry and going out of their way to be job creators and develop and create this industry within Sri Lanka,” declared the Chief Guest of the awards ceremony, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo, Prof. Kshanika Hiriburegama. She however expressed her regret at seeing so few female contestants in the competition.

The winning entry by the University of Ruhuna was a mobile solution for the utility industry which allowed the use of a mobile computer to read utility meters, using a built-in GPS to track and verify meter locations and would then issue a printed bill on the spot and accept payments.