Hírek
Hungarian project wins regional innovation competition
Singularity University’s second regional final took place on April 12 at Design Terminal with 10 competing projects from across the region. On offer were a pair of scholarships, each worth $25,000, for projects that have the potential to improve the lives of at least 1,000,000 people in the upcoming three years, using “exponentially developing technologies”.
The winners were Márton Juhász from Hungary and Aleksandra Orchowska from Poland.
Juhász lives in the neighborhood of a hospital, and meets paralyzed people on a daily basis. These people usually get about with joystick-controlled wheelchairs, although when controlled with their mouths, the joystick substantially limits their vision. GyroSet, therefore, was designed to replace the joystick with a gyroscope-based system, which responds to head movements, and allows people who cannot move their limbs to move and communicate.
Orchowska won the other scholarship with her project entitled Cukeriada, a game and mobile application developed for children diagnosed with diabetes which helps them identify the symptoms of their conditions, and to better incorporate available treatments in their daily routines. The system also helps these kids to regard their illness, and its ongoing treatment as a self-evident part of life rather than a traumatic event.
Juhász and Orchowska will take part in a three-month course at Singularity University, located at the NASA research base, later this summer. They will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with some of the latest innovations and trends of today’s technology, including space-technology, 3D printers and alternative means of transportation.
The intense education will also give the winners an opportunity for an inside look at the operation of some of the biggest enterprises as well as some newly launched startups in Silicone Valley. By the end of their course, each will be given the chance to be mentored by top executives of major Silicon Valley firms, and in some cases participants are granted funds to launch their own companies.
Singularity University is a non-profit learning institution located in Silicon Valley, founded in 2009 with the aim to “assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies and apply, focus and guide these tools to address humanity’s grand challenges”. In contrast with traditional, accredited four-year universities, Singularity University offers ten-week courses intended for graduate and post-graduate students and ten day programs for senior corporate executives and senior government leaders.
Keretes
Interested in innovation, and what technology can do to improve our future? Join us at the Budapest Business Journal’s Going Global conference on startups, entrepreneurship and the state of innovation in the Hungarian business environment!
At the conference, the leaders of some of Hungary’s most innovative companies will speak about how to use the strengths of the region’s economies and avoid the pitfalls. For more information on the conference, visit www.bbj.hu.