Smart Communications has extended the deadline for the submission of entries to the country’s biggest technology competition, the Sweep (Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program) Innovation and Excellence Awards. College students have until October 27 to come up with their mobile and digital innovations. The winning team of the 13th Sweep Awards – which has the theme “Changing Lives Through Mobile and Digital Innovations” – will get P300,000, while their school will get a P150,000 grant. The second placer will get P200,000, while the third placer will receive P100,000. Schools of the winning teams will each get a grant equivalent to 50% of the team’s cash prizes. Interested students aged 17 to 25 are required to form a team and come up with a wireless application under any of the following categories:
  • Consumer – innovations for personal use or for customers or buyers
  • Business to Business (B2B) – for government and business transactions
  • Social Innovations – covering the fields of education, environment, disaster preparedness and response, health, livelihood, or agriculture
  • Big Data – involving social media and web analytics
  • Machine to Machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IoT) – involving intelligently connected devices and systems
Teams should come up with a video pitch and register online at www.smartsweep.ph. The full mechanics can also be found on this site. Mobile leader Smart Communications launched the Sweep Awards in 2004 to provide college students with the platform to develop and create innovative applications that provide solutions to existing consumer pain points. It is an initiative under Sweep, longestunning collaboration between the industry and academe aimed at raising the standards of engineering and information technology (IT) education in the country. (pr)