Student Enterprise @ Purple Door
Students join IBM for enterprise 'bootcamp'
Mon, 04 Jul 2011 11:40:00 BST
The day was designed to improve the students’ enterprise skills, enhance their CV and was a chance to meet network with IBM professionals.
Just 10 students from each of the Universities of Portsmouth, Winchester, Southampton, Bournemouth and Southampton Solent spent part of the day competing in team challenges set by IBM in relation to its Smarter Planet initiative, which aims to infuse intelligence into everything we use to make the world work better.
They had less than three hours to come up with their own Smarter Planet initiative which could focus on any aspect of everyday life including transportation, healthcare, food production and many more which they presented to a panel of judges.
The winning idea looked at making public transport in London more efficient by offering rewards for greener travel and optimising other transport routes via notifications to customers. The aim was to deliver an improved service and genuine benefits to commuters. The team, consisting of students from all four universities, each received a ground pass for a day at the Wimbledon tennis championships, including a very special behind-the-scenes technology tour.
All the students who took part in the day had the opportunity to network with IBM professionals and external guests from local businesses during the day and at an evening networking supper.
IBM’s Distinguished Engineer and Master Inventor, Andy Stanford-Clark engaged the students with some of his more quirky inventions including his live ferry tracking system and his twittering house plant that sends him a twitter message when it needs watering. Charlotte Clark, a Winchester student said: “His presentation style was very unique, interesting and amusing. He was honestly one of the best guest speakers I have heard.”
But the day’s emphasis was on creativity and ideas rather than technical knowledge and aimed at inspiring ideas.
Richard Sant, Director of the Centre for Enterprise at the University of Portsmouth, said: “It’s incredibly motivating for students to be working with a world-class employer; the venue was literally buzzing by the end of the day. These kinds of events develop both a student's enterprise and employability skills so we intend to create more opportunities like this. Watch this space!"