A competition designed to develop and encourage a culture of software innovation has revealed a hive of technological activity in the Eastern Cape's Port Elizabeth Technikon.
The competition, called Project Firefly, was launched by Microsoft two years ago. "We wanted to inspire students to make magic with software," says Danny Naidoo, developer and platform director at Microsoft SA. The company also wanted to empower students to recognise their abilities and their value in the workplace.
Students from PE Tech won the overall competition both years.
In the first year the winning team represented SA in Microsoft's global software competition, the Imagine Cup. The team travelled to Brazil last year and came fourth.
Last year's winning team will represent SA in Yokohama, Japan, in June. They are expected to be placed in the top three.
The emergence of talent from the technikon is no accident.
"We have a strong focus on entrepreneurship," says Eugene du Preez, interim deputy vice-chancellor for information, planning & quality.
He runs the faculty of computer studies as a "family faculty"; students are not kept at arm's length and a hierarchy of teachers and students is not enforced.
ICT is the obvious focus but students are encouraged to approach the subject in novel ways.
Du Preez is also aware that without the support of technikon management no amount of dedication to the cause of ICT would produce bright sparks. Management, he says, has supported the faculty with state-of-the-art technology.
Central to the faculty's success are the projects that third- and fourth-year students must complete. Students are required to develop an IT system and are evaluated according to "real world" criteria such as project management, presentation and implementation.
The project is not considered an academic one, but rather one that will be put into practice as a working business.
"Young people rise to the occasion when confronted with such a challenge," he says.
Inspiring further efforts in development, the university has started work on an incubator. It recently received anonymous funding of R170 000 to be used for anything that relates to incubation, excluding salaries. Now Du Preez is negotiating with the Eastern Cape Information Communication Technology Initiative for financial support.
The teams that won the Project Firefly competitions in 2003 and 2004 are the first groups to benefit from the incubator and both have registered as start-up companies.
The Project Firefly winners in 2003, Riekert du Preez, James Boshoff and Jonathan Vogel, or Team Stovepipe, developed an in-store previewing system for CD stores based on Microsoft's .net platform. It includes virtual bargain bins where shoppers can find the CDs on special as well as marketing and stock control tools. It also has a smart music manager to ensure that the music played in the store is in keeping with the taste of its customers.
Last year's winners, Robert Goss and Demetrios Loutsios, developed software to detect and minimise financial losses that arise from information security breaches. The solution incorporates mobile-device access, so users can interact with the system from remote locations using a Microsoft-compatible mobile device.
Competition judges look for projects that show students have understood the business problem and presented a sound business plan. The project must also consider the needs of the user or users, make use of different devices, where necessary, and include the latest technology such as GPRS and third-generation cellular networks.
Port Elizabeth Technikon and the University of Port Elizabeth merged at the beginning of this year to become the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
