UC-Main CCS’s @letsGO, #aidPH Among 11th SMART-SWEEP Innovation & Excellence Awards Finalists

Two teams from the College of Computer Studies of the University of Cebu Main Campus made it to the 11th Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SMART-SWEEP) Excellence and Innovation Awards among the 326 team-entries nationwide. This year’s theme is “Building Cloud-based Communities”.

Out of the 5 team-entries that CCS sent from its mature Startup-themed Student Capstone Projects, teams @letsGO and #aidPH were shortlisted in the top 20 together with finalists from Luzon and Mindanao regions. The shortlisting was based on the entry forms, project concept video. The 20 semifinalists were trimmed down to 10 finalists, which were pre-judged based on the video-conferencing pitch and validation and initial patent searching activities. Team #aidPH eventually made it in the Top 10. Ms. Sheryl Satorre, faculty-coach quipped “We are very proud of our 2 teams. This is the first time that UC-CCS sends entries yet we made it to the top 20 and top 10. I’m so terrified to even learn that they are the only IT students competing against all Engineering teams and only teams in the Visayas region”.

Below is the complete list of Top 10 finalists:

• University of Cebu (Main Campus)
> #aidPH: A web and Mobile-based Information System for Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils
• Jan Kenith Johannessen (BSIT-3); Wayne Abarquez (BSIT-4); Arnel Acosta (BSIT-4); Apple Jan Tacardon (BSIT-4); Florian Sarno (BSIT-4); Ian Rosales (BSIT-4)

• Ateneo De Manila University
> CONSTELLO – The Collegiate Level Professional Network

• University of Southeastern Philippines
> ALMS (Automated Landslide Monitoring System)

• Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila – SMART RESERVE

• De La Salle – Lipa – SMART i-PRINT

• Wesleyan University
> Smart Marketing Assitance and Product Trading (S-MART) App

• Batangas State University
> #Bayanihan (A Unified Cloud-based Application for the Local Government Units)

• Bulacan State University (3)
> Smart IMAGE – Instant Multiple Option Assessor for General Examination
> SMART A. S. S.
> SENTINEL – SMART Emergency Necklace Triggering Internet –Enabled Locator

Team #aidPH, together with Ms. Satorre went to Antipolo City, Rizal for a 2-day extensive Startup Boot Camp, Mentoring Sessions and Team-Building Activities last October 28-29, 2014 at Smart’s First Asia Pacific Leadership Academy. Dean Melvin Niñal revealed “We went to Atty. Go’s office for the courtesy call. He was so happy that he gave stipend for them going to Manila apart from SMART’s financial support. He even reiterated that UC was the first to offer computer course in the region”.

Mentoring session with the in-house startup mentors during the 2-day Boot Camp at First Pacific Leadership Academic in Antipolo City.

The Final Competition will be held in Makati City, Manila come February 12, 2015. The Top 10 teams will have their pitching competition, minimum viable product demonstration and final defense in front of the judges, venture capitalists, angel investors and other startup support systems. Three (3) winners will be proclaimed with the corresponding cash prizes: 1st Place – 500,000 pesos; 2nd place – 200,000 pesos; and 3rd place – 100,000 pesos. Consolation prize is 30,000 pesos for each of the non-winning teams. All 10 finalists will have equal opportunity for startup incubation and seed funding. Also, the top 3 teams’ schools will also be given equal cash prizes in the form of grant that shall be used to fund the implementation of the winning application, subject to conditions set by Smart.

As part of the coveted perks, winners may be sent abroad for benchmarking as the 1oth SMART-SWEEP champion last year went to Silicon Valley, in the USA.