USJ-R, UC among finalists of telco’s innovation contest

SWEEP Awards finalists get tips from mentors on how to improve their projects. (CONTRIBUTED)

At least two Cebu universities have made it to the finals of the 12th Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP) innovation and excellence awards.

The teams from the University of San Jose-Recoletos and University of Cebu were chosen to be among the 10 finalists from the 304 groups that submitted entries from all over the country.

Other finalists came from Angeles University Foundation, Asia Pacific College, Batangas State University, De La Salle University–Science and Technology Complex, Gordon College, Holy Cross of Davao College, University of the Philippines Los Baños and Wesleyan University Philippines.

It took the finalists months to further develop their projects in time for the final judging this month.

These projects include a device and mobile application that enables people to turn off appliances even when they’re not home, an app that allows users to buy groceries via mobile devices and have these delivered, and an affordable pocket-sized electrocardiogram device.

Smart Telecommunications will give P300,000 to the first-placer, P200,000 to the second-placer, P100,000 to the third-placer, and P50,000 to the rest of the short-listed teams.

Smart will also award grants to the schools of the 10 finalists — P150,000 for the first-placer, P100,000 for the second-placer, P50,000 for the third-placer and P25,000 each for the other schools.

“SWEEP Awards has gone beyond being a simple awards program that encourages students to develop innovative technological solutions to real-life problems. We have also helped several participants to establish startup companies to commercialize these solutions,” said Smart public affairs senior manager Stephanie Orlino.