Each year, Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) holds an event, aptly named Cutting Edge, which stages some of its students' most novel innovations and conceptualisations in the fields of Information Technology and Business Management.

The winners of the Software Engineering category

Just as in previous years, this year too, Cutting Edge 2010 exhibited a wide range of projects by IIT's final year students as well as the junior batches. The final year projects on display ranged from categories like Advanced Programming Concepts, Artificial Intelligence, Communication Networks, Database Systems, Hardware-based Solutions, Multimedia and Graphics, Web-based Solutions and Wireless Solutions to more business-oriented projects classified under E-Learning, Corporate Social Responsibility, Finance, E-Commerce, Human Resource Management, Sales, Marketing and Supply Chain Management etc.

This alone sufficiently indicates the versatility of the students of IIT, which substantiates why they are the most sought-after undergraduates in their respective industries today.

A panel of external judges consisting of academia and industry experts in the relevant fields evaluated the numerous projects displayed and chose the best three in order of merit. This process was carried out for the Software Engineering and the Information Systems with Business Management degree programmes.

These awards are not only considered as the most fulfilling honour for all the hard work put in by each winner, but also marks the performance of a true star in the world of academia. This year, the following students emerged winners of these prestigious awards.

The winners of the Information Systems and Business Management category

Academic excellence awards for the Software Engineering category
Academic Excellence Awards for the Software Engineering category were awarded by Virtusa Corporation.

• 1st prize: Engage - A framework for gesture-based human-computer interaction. Mr. Mohamed Hamzeen
• 2nd prize: Smart Anywhere - An intelligent framework to integrate smart environments via mobile. Mr. Kalana Kasun
• 3rd prize: Intelligent tea leaf disease identification system. Mr. Channimala Jayamanne
  Business Innovation awards for the Information Systems with Business Management category
  Business Innovation Awards for the Information Systems with Business Management category were awarded by Informatics (Pvt) Ltd.
• 1st prize: DysTS - An initiative to eradicate the inadequate treatment of dyslexia in Sri Lanka. Ms. Zeinab Shabbir
• 2nd prize: Project Greenleaf - A research into developing effective green IT strategy. Mr. Thilanka Marasinghe
• 3rd prize: An explorative study on the Sri Lankan tea industry. Mr. Maduranga Perera

Cutting Edge not only provides a platform for students of IIT to display their academic competence to a broad spectrum of viewers, but also invites other students and spectators to learn from the experiences of the students. As part of this initiative, this year, IIT extended invitations to students from Jaffna to visit its Colombo campus on the commemorative occasion of Cutting Edge 2010.

This step, along with the newly established branch of IIT in the Jaffna peninsula, portrays the spread and reach of IIT in several parts of Sri Lanka. As part of promoting and supporting Cutting Edge this year, IIT also ran a multilingual radio broadcasting station, I-FM 96.1 MHz around-the-clock for a period of three days, the first of its kind in the history of IIT.

The two days of Cutting Edge sailed to a smooth end with the awards ceremony, which was organised to acknowledge the wealth of talent that IIT holds. The term 'Cutting Edge' is defined as 'the leading position in any movement or field' - and all in all this is exactly the kind of event that Cutting Edge 2010 emerged to be.

Zeinab Shabbir, Final year student, IIT.