After competing with 11 teams from other tertiary institutions around the country at the Nigeria challenge finals held last week in Lagos, four software incubators from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ilefe, (OAU) and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, (Lautech) Ogbomoso, Oyo respectively will fly Nigerian’s flag this summer in St Petersburg, Russia at the worldwide Imagine Cup finals.
Having won the national finals in Nigeria, Team Life Saver will join the brightest young minds to compete on the world stage in July this year.
Like Team Gravity from Obafemi Awolowo University that represented Nigeria at the Worldwide finals in Australia last year, the 2013 competitors would gain real life experience, make new friends, and harness the power of technology to take on the world’s toughest problems.
Imagine Cup is the world’s premier technology competition designed solely for students which centers on the use of imagination, creativity and technology to help solve some of the world’s toughest problems.
However, 30 teams had submitted their entries after which 12 teams were shortlisted for the national finals held yesterday in Lagos.
Interestingly, any team that did not make it for the global finals has the opportunity to be returned for online portal competition.
With supports from National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Lagos State Government, Dell, Nokia and mainOne, members of Team Life Saver including Afolabi Olamide, Oluwole Michael, Akinlaja Solomon and Adewale Adeyinka had competed in the category of World Citizenship.
Their solution titled CardioLife was designed to tackle heart attack by monitoring heart reading on the fly via the Microsoft Windows Phone.
The solution also provides a rehabilitation programme for stroke patients using the kinect sensor. The team will be joining other students across the world this July to compete in the Imagine Cup Worldwide finals.
In addition to winning the ticket to the global finals scheduled for St Petersburg, Russia in July 2013, Nokia as part of their support would be giving each member of Team Life Saver its innovative smartphones, Nokia Lumia 920 devices while Dell Nigeria would present them with Dell Vestro laptops.
“This is a great opportunity for us. Our empowerment has just started. Our destiny lies in our hands. We are now our boss. Microsoft and and their sponsors have really empowered us with IT knowledge. We will take our solution to the next level. We not disappoint our schools and Nigeria. And we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to compete with students from around the globe who, like us, are passionate about making a difference in the world.”, the team’s spokesperson, Oluwole Michael said with excitement.
Windows on Wheels, a car navigation and personal driving assistant by Team Eagle Inc from FUTA, The Compventure, a text-based role playing game solution by Team Golympus from OAU, EasyRetailer, a solution that eases up buying process for clients, by Team Linfix from Redeemers University, and Course Trail, an electronic tutoring platform that teaches illiterate users to read and speak correctly by Team Team Mercury from OAU were among the projects showcased.
Other participating teams included Team NIKAO from OAU, Team Pearl from LAUTECH and Team iAce from FUTA.
Yinka Oni, National technology Officer for Microsoft Anglophone West Africa before announcing the result told the gathering that, “Each team that competed in the regional finals is deserving of the highest recognition for the creativity and imagination applied to some of the world’s biggest challenges. We’re proud to honour these young students who we believe truly exemplify the spirit of the Imagine Cup competition, and we’ll be cheering Team Life Saver on as they compete on the world stage in St Petersburg.
Also speaking, Developer & Platform Evangelism Lead/Microsoft Anglophone West Africa, Shina Oyetosho while commending the competitors for their innovative solutions said that this is just the beginning of work for the wining team.
“Your team will need more work so as to challenge other peers at the worldwide finals. Iam g oing to engage you. You will do more work on your solution. We really have to work hard to bring the cup to Nigeria. All of you are winners” he said.
In his remarks, Partner Manager, Developer Experience Nokia West Africa, Olumide Balogun applauded the winners on their victory.
“We are proud of Team Life Saver for developing such an innovative solution which fetched them the ticket to showcase their talents on the world stage” he said. [Vanguard]
