Thursday, November 22, 2007 10 entries vie for Sweep
SMART Communications Inc. wants to harness the potentials of wireless technologies in helping communities prepare for and deal with calamities and disasters.
“Communication is the key factor to disaster preparedness. Information is the starting point of any disaster relief programs,” said Ramon Isberto, head of Smart’s public affairs group.
With the thrust, Smart’s fourth staging of its annual search for innovative wireless applications designed by student teams will have the theme “Going Wireless for Disaster Preparedness.”
The 4th Smart Wireless Engineering Program (Sweep) Innovation and Excellence Award will be held in Cebu on Feb. 1 and 2, 2008. It will be the first time that the event is staged outside Manila.
Yesterday, the program announced the 10 projects that made it to the finals.
Twenty schools from all over the country submitted 59 project proposals.
These proposals were adjudged anonymously, the entries did not indicate which school submitted it, and 10 finalists were selected.
Monitoring disasters
Among the finalists are three projects from the Ateneo de Manila, one of them from a student who was team leader of a project that also made it to last year’s Sweep innovation awards finals.
Making it to the 10 finalists are applications that monitor disasters and send out alerts to the public; an integrated flood alert system; a software application that allows owners of billboards to roll up or down depending on the speed of the wind; a public warning system using cell broadcasting; a wireless disaster information manager loaded into SIMs;
A system to monitor tsunamis and send out alerts; an SMS system for disaster warnings and reporting; a scanner that will allow detecting people trapped in rubbles; a system that tracks outbreaks of diseases; and a system that monitors vibrations of bridges.
Students will be displaying working prototypes of these projects at Trade Halls 1 and 2 in SM City Cebu.
Isberto also said Sweep is going “to the next level” and the succeeding staging of the contest will focus on wireless broadband technology.
Isberto also said Smart is strengthening the Sweep program by going regional with the holding of the awarding in Cebu next year and possibly Davao for the next event.
The awards program requires teams of students, mentored by a faculty member, to develop wireless applications that will benefit their school and community. These applications must be accessed via the Smart network using SMS, WAP, GPRS, voice, WiFi or Bluetooth.
In an interview with reporters during the press conference yesterday at the Laguna Garden Café, Isberto said Smart is looking into feasible prototypes that could possibly be commercialized.
Not commercialized
He, however, clarified that commercialization is not the primary goal of the contest.
“We are not imposing it (commercialization) as a target. It may be a bonus, but it’s not our aim,” Isberto said.
Isberto said none of the previous prototypes have been commercialized, as some are “not that commercially viable.”
“Commercialization is a decision to be made by the business owners. But what we are looking instead is to restructure the program as more of a development process rather than just a contest,” he said.
Unlike in previous stagings of the event, the schools retain ownership of projects entered into the Sweep awards.
Rolando Peña, Smart network services division head, said the change was done upon the advice of company lawyers. Smart, however, has the first-offer right for entries with commercial value.
The Sweep Innovation and Excellence Awards is an off-shoot of Sweep, which began as an industry-academe partnership that seek to help raise the level of the country’s technology and engineering education, particularly in the field of Electronic and Communications Engineering.
It has now evolved into a platform from which Smart has developed partnerships with Sweep schools in academic fields like Information Technology education and community service.
Since its launching in March 2003, the program now covers 40 schools nationwide.
Sweep-partner schools in Cebu are University of San Carlos, University of Cebu (Main and Banilad campuses), and Don Bosco Technology Center.
Nova Concepcion, Sweep program leader head, said Cebu partner schools submitted four entries but none made it to the finals.
Smart offers cash prizes for winners and a corresponding grant to the schools. Third placers get P150,000, second placers get P300,000, while the first placers get P500,000. The seven other finalists who do not win get P30,000 each.
During the event, Smart will also hold the PalaECEpan, a quiz competition among students of Smart’s partner schools. (MMM/MTL)
