Sri Lankan universities compete against each others in 2 day Hackanix
View(s):Fifteen teams from top universities and ICT Institutes from across the island competed in ‘Hackanix 2015’, a 2-day hackathon organised by AIESEC from the University of Moratuwa held recently in collaboration with Microsoft Sri Lanka.
The event, held at Trace City, Maradana, had 5-member teams from education institutions such as the Universities of Colombo, Moratuwa and Ruhuna, SLIIT, Esoft Metro Campus etc working overnight on their projects which were to be presented to an elite panel of judges the day following. The challenge presented to students was to come up with a solution for a social issue under the theme ‘Educating the General Public on’.
Seen here are the winners of the Hackanix 2015 - Sas Ninjas with Microsoft Developers Experience Lead Wellington Perera, Janakie Karunaratne, Manager Community Affairs for Microsoft Sri Lanka and Ashiq Niyaz, Sales Manager, SMB for Microsoft Sri Lanka.
The 15 teams who worked tirelessly produced some excellent work, including futuristic mobile applications and innovative websites. Each team had a single end goal in mind; bringing home the Hackanix 2015 championship.
However, it was three of the best teams who were adjudged the winners by the panel of judges which consisted of experts like Prof. Gihan Dias from the University of Moratuwa; Wellington Perera, Developers experience Lead for Microsoft Sri Lanka and Faraz Hudah, Program Lead for ICTA.
The 2nd runners up who were awarded a cash price of Rs. 20,000 was the team Illusion boxes from the University of Moratuwa who designed an innovative application to connect people who sought legal assistance with the right lawyers. Team ‘Enigma’ from the University of Peradeniya were placed 1st runners up for their application to improve study methods, making the entire experience of learning more fun and novel.
The overall winner of Hackanix 2015 was the 2nd level undergraduate team, Sas Ninjas from the University of Moratuwa who clinched it by producing their masterpiece ‘Educa’ App which can be installed in any kind of smartphone and has the ability to change the way one reads by using augmented reality, allowing the user a virtual experience. The 5-member winning team received a notebook each while the first runners up from the Peradeniya University won a cash price of Rs. 30,000.
The other teams who took part also presented some outstanding applications relating to the health sector, road safety and law etc, according to a media release issued by Microsoft Sri Lanka.
Speaking at the event, Welington Perera Developers experience Lead for Microsoft Sri Lanka, said that Microsoft Sri Lanka was proud to be part of the event. “We received 64 proposals in the first round and shortlisted 15. I am really happy and proud to see the quality and ingenuity our students have brought into this whole competition and if I comment on why Microsoft actually supported this kind of initiative it is because we believe that technology is the platform and the single enabler for everyone in the world to experience a better lifestyle”.
The event’s main focus was the development of projects that could be used as online mobile applications in line with Microsoft’s Mobile first Cloud first theme.
In Asia Microsoft has launched a campaign called “We Speak Code” the objective of which is to make coding a third language, says Janakie Karunaratne, Manager Community Affairs for Microsoft Sri Lanka.
She said, “Microsoft believes that apart from our mother tongue and English in general Coding will be the next language which will support ideas that spark innovation. With technology at their fingertips our young people, can truly change the world, and it is to that aim that we work towards. We at Microsoft believe that we have a responsibility to give young people every opportunity we can to bring out their ideas, give them the right technology and to make every resource we have at our disposal accessible, so that they can take it and make more out of it”.
Captain of the winning team Sas Ninjas, Tuan Shafer said, “We are really happy to have taken part in this event and won. As a team we thank Microsoft and AEISEC for organizing this Hackanix and for making it such a worthy competition”.