Two travel-oriented 5G-ready and IoT solutions rose as victors at the 15th SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards which was spearheaded by Smart Communications to encourage college students in their pursuit of wireless application development.
The top spot was claimed by Car Space, a parking solution that incorporates the usage of IoT hardware and is the brainchild of a team hailing from the University of San Jose – Recoletos. The pioneering idea is geared towards alleviating the woes of car-owners by helping them locate vacant parking spaces and see available spots in real time.
Team members Noel Daniel Seldura, Jesury Thomas Gadiane, Kevin Cerdon, who were mentored by Eric Magto, said the solution can also be an income generator for privately-owned garages that are seldom used.
Capturing the second prize was from Asia Pacific College?s Lynia, a queue management system aimed at easing commuter dilemmas in PUV terminals by using contactless smart cards, card reader devices, and the app itself.
“As a commuter, upon arriving at the terminal, we just want to be able to ride immediately. We don’t like long lines. Our solution is a terminal queueing system, which gives the passengers the option to leave the line. They will then be notified once it’s their time to ride the public utility vehicle (PUV),” said Lynia’s IoT developer Jamie Gahallon.
“I think users will like the convenience that we can offer, since the issue (waiting for long lines in PUV terminals) has always been the commuters’ stress point. If we were given the chance, we would really like to collaborate with PayMaya for the financial transactions, local government units (LGUs) and various transport organizations,” she added.
The third placer came from the Technological University of the Philippines-Manila with a first-of-its-kind beehive monitoring system in the country named BeeNotified.
Meanwhile, a cloud-based behavior detection system for anti-bullying called ARGOS from the National Teachers College received the Ericsson People’s Choice Award.
Guided by this year’s theme ?Creative Innovations Beyond Imagination?, judges narrowed the competition from over 160 entries to 20 semi-finalists and finally the top ten teams, according to Smart senior vice president for network planning and engineering Mar Tamayo.
The finalists endured a prior three-day Boot Camp where they were selected after being guided by mentors from Smart, technopreneurship incubator IdeaSpace, and partner startups.
“It is expected that 5G will encourage innovation across many industries and enable emergent technologies such as the IoT to become an integral part of our economy and lifestyle. As the Philippines gears up for its new way of digital innovations, it is just but fitting that innovations and technology-preneurs, such as the finalists here, be able to keep up with these advancements,” Tamayo explained.
All finalists received a cash prize of P50,000, while the second and third placer received P200,000 and P100,000 respectively. On the other hand, aside from a cash prize of P300,000, Team Car Space was given a chance to send a representative to the Seeds for the Future program of Huawei in China. Team ARGOS also received an additional P20,000 for the award from Ericsson.
The remaining solutions from the Top 10 teams included ALERTO by Bicol University – Polangui Campus, MOSFAS by Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges, Palaymo by Mapua University, Smart FDAS by Technological University of the Philippines, iFarm by the University of the Cordilleras, and PONDORA by University of the Immaculate Conception.