CodeNinja, an app development competition for third-level students in Galway, came to its conclusion with three prizes awarded to student teams from NUI Galway and Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT).
Through a series of workshops, CodeNinja gave students the skills and knowledge required to create their own innovative web or mobile apps.
The competition was designed by local businesses and academics to train and encourage students to be creative in the cultivation of their own technology ideas, and was supported by Microsoft Ireland, GitHub, OnePageCRM, Ex Ordo, and Prof Chris Curtin, VP for innovation and performance at NUI Galway.
The winning entry was an app called the Annoying Mosquito and was jointly developed by Chengxuan Xing and Adeel Gilani, both final-year software development students at GMIT.
Their Windows Phone app is based on the idea of augmented reality, whereby they superimposed computer-generated graphics on top of a mobile camera view of the real world with the aim of allowing everyone of all ages to move and do more exercise when they are playing games by swatting a computer-generated annoying mosquito using the person’ phone.
The joint runners-up were John Maguire, a final year electronic and computer engineering student from NUI Galway who developed a speech-to-text app, and Răzvan Rădulescu, an atmospheric science PhD researcher also from NUI Galway who developed an app that would alert you when rain is due to fall near you.
Co-organiser of the competition, Dr John Breslin of NUI Galway, said this type of initiative is important for the local area: “It is important in terms of its impact on students and the local economy: increasing the available skillsets and working with industry partners in the app ecosystem.”
