NEWI students win prize for innovation

18 December 2007

Two NEWI computing students have won joint first prize out of 1000s of entries in a competition which was open to university students and industry professionals from across the UK.

Simon Moorcroft a student on the BSc (Hons) Computer Networks and Ben Abnett on the BSc (Hons) Computing and IT course worked together on an entry.  They designed a system using new short-range wireless technology to help combat vehicle crime, which costs the country an estimated £3 billion pounds a year.

Their entry was for a new car identification system. The competition required entrants to come up with a commercially viable way of utilising the latest in mobile phone technology and radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags.  Their innovative design would use RFID tags to identify vehicles.  The tags would be situated in the car windscreen and could then be remotely scanned using a specialist mobile phone by the police.  Scanning the tag could provide vital information on the ownership of the vehicle, whether the vehicle is fully taxed, has a valid MOT and is insured. 

The two students travelled down to London to demonstrate their designs to a panel of judges at the final and were thrilled to win the joint first prize along with the other winning group from Leicester University. 

Simon Moorcroft said, “We were really pleased to win, the other winning group had a Dr of Science within their group and the competition was open to professionals who are working in the field.”  

Ben Abnett added, “We presented our ideas and designs to the CEO and cofounder of  Innovision and they were impressed with our presentation.”

Their tutor John McGinn was also thrilled with their success, “They have worked really hard on this project and definitely deserved to win. There project would simplify the work of traffic officers and could potentially save the country billions of pounds.   It is a huge achievement winning a competition like this, there was a really high volume of entries but their work has really stood out. “