Beat Drone, a startup that provides drone services for farmers has emerged winner at the Techfest 2018, which held in Lagos from 15 to 16 May 2018.
Beat Drone, one of the featured startups under Passion Incubator, won the ₦5 million cash prize and ₦5 million in technical supports from the sponsors of the event. The sponsors include Diamond Bank, Interswitch, Visa, Microsoft, NIBSS, Deloitte, MTN Nigeria and Beat FM.
Taofeek Olalekan Afeez and Alayande Abdulwaheed Abiola, of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) have emerged winners of the 2018 Microsoft Imagine Cup National Finals in Nigeria.
The two undergraduates of Physics Electronics and Electrical Electronics who jointly formed TEAM TREP had presented a solution called Real Drip – a device that reduces the risk of blood clot or deep vein thrombosis. The non-invasive device monitors the flow of intravenous fluid during IV treatment and notifies medical staff in real time. The device monitors the rate at which intravenous fluid drops (flow rate) and notifies the medical staff on duty in real time, for the timely removal of intravenous needle to prevent back flow of blood, which may lead to pulmonary embolism if necessary action is not taken on time.
With this development, the team proceeds to the second round of the competition and if successful, they will join other students for global finals taking place in Redmond, Seattle in July [2018]. The competition is regarded as one of the biggest software competition for undergraduates in the world.
Now in its 16th year, Microsoft Imagine Cup, aims to give young developers the opportunity to acquire new and critical technical, business and team-building skills all while having fun along the way. However, the competition is segmented into three rounds, the National Finals which is round one, regional finals, round two and the World finals, round three (with a $100,000 cash prize).
Speaking on this development, Mr. Akin Banuso, General Manager, Microsoft Nigeria stated:
“Today’s students are the makers and doers that will build and change the world, as we know it. At Microsoft, we believe this new generation of innovators have the potential to address some of humanity’s most pressing problems; from how to predict and monitor diseases like Alzheimer’s and depression, to identifying ‘fake news’ or increasing response times during natural disasters.
Through Imagine Cup, the world’s young, aspiring entrepreneurs and developers collaborate to build a technology application, create a business plan and gain a keen understanding of what is needed to bring a concept to market. In a cloud-first, mobile-first world, creators and makers must work together to create a cloud for global good.”
Taofeek Olalekan Afeez, The Team Head for Team TREP, who was full of excitement said:
“We are excited about this win. We would like to thank Microsoft for this opportunity. We look forward to competing at the global stage and do our country proud.”
Also speaking, Mr. Damola Solanke, Principal Azure Apps & Infrastructure Lead, Microsoft Nigeria and Chief Judge of the competition said the winning idea was assessed based on four key areas – Technology, Innovation, Concept and Feasibility.
Mr. Damola Solanke said:
“We would like to commend TEAM TREP for satisfying the requirements of the competition. Their idea was well articulated and we look forward to seeing more homegrown solutions to our pressing needs as a country.”
The National entries for the Microsoft Imagine Cup competition opened in February 2018, and is available in 29 countries across the world including Nigeria. Participants create or join a team of up to three eligible students. Together, they make an original technology project from start to finish. The process involves coming up with a great idea, putting together a plan, building a project and submitting it.
MultiChoice Nigeria has named Elah Ajene of Nigeria Tulip International College, Abuja, and Prosper Okarike of Graceland International School, Port Harcourt, as in-country winners of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards competition for 2017.
Elah Ajene emerged winner in the essay category, while Prosper Okarike emerged winner in the poster category. The awards are part of efforts by MultiChoice to promote science and technology education in Nigeria. The winners were announced after a two-day adjudication process.
The Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe, said the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards are designed to identify and create awareness on satellite technology and its applications within the society. And that the award is meant to inspire innovative thinking among secondary school students in Africa to create awareness on how science and technology can be applied to everyday life and to showcase the many ways that satellites already impact on the development of the African continent.
In his words:
“MultiChoice, by this award, is encouraging the young ones to challenge themselves and come up with ideas and innovation that will eventually propel our country to desired greatness.”
Dr. Aderonke Bello, CEO Innovative Technology Literacy Services Limited (ITLSL) and lead judge for the 2017 DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, stated that there were many quality entries, but the ones that made it to the top were those that satisfied all the specified criteria, which were understanding and demonstration of satellite technology and its application to everyday life, coherence in the manner of presentation and flow.
The annual awards, which received a total of 213 entries, including 187 essays and 26 posters this year, takes the form of a competition open to students between the ages of 14-19 years old.
Truckit, an indigenous company that provides a technology platform that facilitates cost effective and secured transportation of goods and cargos with real time monitoring for individuals and companies, has been recognised for its innovative UTruckit application at the World Summit Awards (WSA), which held in Vienna, Austria.
Truckit was awarded in the Smart Settlements & Urbanization category of the World Summit Awards. Truckit launched its UTruckit application in July 2017 and stands out on the strength of its innovation within the digital space.
The World Summit Awards (WSA) was initiated in 2003 in the framework of the UN World Summit on the Information Society (UN WSIS). UTruckit was selected by the WSA Grand Jury as one of the 40 WSA Winners in 2017.
The World Summit Awards is a highly diverse and democratic award system that selects and promotes the world’s best in digital content and innovative applications with impact on the society
According to Mr. Tom Roberts, Nigerian, CEO and founder of Truckit Trucks Solutions Limited:
“We feel very proud of this award as it is a great honor that the international community recognized the exceptional value in the UTruckit APP. Almost 400 submissions from 180 UN member states participated in this year’s WSA contest.
The competition was tough and the selection process was highly competitive and we are so glad we scaled through.”
We are pioneer of the 1st truck booking solution in Nigeria and Africa and we are proud to have achieved this. The innovation is managed by experienced professionals with a track record of delivering logistics solutions. It has been good doing such business in Nigeria.”
Explaining the award initiative, Chairman, Programos Software Group and Founder, Programos Foundation, Nigeria’s coordinating civil society organisation for the United Nations-based World Summit Awards, Mr. Amos Emmanuel, noted that 40 winners from 23 countries were selected from over 400 nominations from 180 countries.
He added that the WSA presented a global spectre of change making projects ranging from big data for tourism to organ 3D printing, from a job-platform focusing on female tech talent to empowering smallholder farms.
According to Mr. Amos Emmanuel:
Two Nigerian students, Salisu Ali of Bayero University Kano and David Ntekim-Rex of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), have emerged regional winners in the annual Master the Mainframe competition, organised by AngelHack and IBM Z Academic Initiative.
A statement by IBM said 21-year-old Salisu Ali, and 19-year-old David Ntekim-Rex, emerged in the first and second positions, respectively in the Middle East and Africa region, and were named among the top 12 finalists globally.
Both students’ entries, according to the judges, showcased innovation and their clear understanding of software security and utility principles, which are the two key attributes of mainframe systems.
The other 10 finalists were from Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Nepal and the United States of America, the organisers stated.
According to the organisers of the 2018 Master The Mainframe Competition:
“More than 17,000 young people from around the world participated in this year’s Master the Mainframe contest, an introduction to programming and application development competition designed to teach students how to code and build new innovations using the mainframe.
Eighty per cent of registrants were new. Students were introduced to the enterprise systems behind their smartphone apps and gained hands-on experience to inspire interest in pursuing science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers. By participating, students learnt, prepared for careers and could win prizes.”
According to the IBM Technical Solutions Manager, Brian Collins, and the General Manager, IBM Z Team, Ross Mauri, attracting participants from more than 120 countries across six continents, this year’s contest was truly a global contest and it drew the largest turnout since the contest began in 2005.
They observed that millennials were a perfect match for mainframes and that in a world where the focus often seemed on designing the latest app, these contestants entered the competition with the hope of getting jobs on the Mainframe, which was first introduced in the 1960s.
As part of the contest, IBM made all contestants to create their own applications that dealt with flour, oil and sugar with over 600 different companies worth of data that needed to be sorted and tracked.
Engineer Michael Friday, has come up with an invention called Mobile Intercom aimed at relieving subscribers of telecommunications services of the need to buy recharge cards.
According to Michael Friday on Mobile Intercom:
“The source of Internet we depend on is in foreign hands. Even our telecommunications companies depend on them. If you want to manufacture a mobile phone, until you buy the operating system chips and insert it on your system, it can never access any of these technologies.
WIFI and Bluetooth are minute ICs embedded in the PCV that makes them work.
Why don’t we have such a thing here? It is because there is no backing. Late last year, I came up with an application. I was at a function and the moment a bigwig came in, all mobile phones stopped working. And I said to myself, ‘If there is any security issue here, now, everybody is doomed.’
So, I coded an application that I can use to make calls, send SMS, do video calls and all of that without mobile spectrum, without Internet or network. We have completed it and it is working. Our chip sets can transmit up to 5000 metres, that is about 5 kilometres.”
Friday is a global award winner for developing the smallest storage micro chips in 2009, at a science competition in China. He emerged the overall best scientist in 2009.
He is also a two-time award winner of the most outstanding youth in Nigeria in 2009 and 2011.
Winners have emerged in the National Science, Technology and Innovation Expo 2018, which held from March 5-9, 2018, with the theme “Fast-tracking sustainable development of Nigeria through science and technology”.
Continue reading Winners Of National Science, Technology And Innovation Expo 2018 [Abuja]