Students from the School of Computing and IT (CIT), College of Computing and Information Sciences, have for the 4th Year running scooped the first position of the Microsoft Imagine Cup.
Makerere imagine cup winners
The East and Central Africa Regional challenge was held in Nairobi on 9th May 2011 and CIT, which emerged top, will now represent the region at the Cup’s world stage in July 2011 in New York.
In recognition of CIT’s consistently excellent performance in the Imagine Cup, Microsoft has approved the establishment of a Microsoft Innovations Center at the Makerere University’s College of Computing and Information Sciences. The Center is scheduled to be launched in July 2011. The Innovations Center will accord CIT students as well as students from the entire University a conducive working environment to work on more innovations.
The team which composed of Joseph Lutalo and Joshua Kaizzi was mentored by Joseph Kaizzi, an alumnus of CIT-Makerere University and former champion at the same competition 2years ago. The team competed in the software design category and their winning project CRIMEX is a desktop, mobile and web-based system that focuses on crime pattern analysis in developing countries.
Kenyan students from Strathmore University, Kenya came in second and third with their projects dubbed “The Greenhouse Project” and a game focused on “universal education and gender equality”.
Here is a detail of their submission:
IMAGINE CUP 2011
Name of Team: Quest0
Country: Uganda
Category: Software Design
Name of Contestants: JOSEPH LUTAALOJOSHUA KAIZZIJOSEPH KAIZZI (MENTOR)
Name of Project: CRIMEXSummary
Notes of Project:
Project overviewCRIMEX is a desktop, mobile and web based system that focuses on crime pattern analysis in developing countries. For business to thrive in a given area, it is important that the crime rate is low. Law enforcement and crime investigation units in East Africa are under-staffed with little or no experienced crime analysts.
The crime departments resort to manual data analysis from field reports, and witness testimonies to predict patterns. CRIMEX provides a unique solution for law enforcers; ranging from crime pattern recognition to facial recognition capabilities and biometric analysis. CRIMEX can also be linked to international crime databases where need be. CRIMEX is in line with the 8th MDG i.e. a global partnership; particularly addressing the special needs of least developed countries. The rule of law in society is a key necessity in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals
Source: Makerere University