More than 140 budding innovators from The University of Queensland (UQ) showcased their final-year projects at the recent School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE) Innovation Expo at UQ St Lucia campus.
UQ’s leading electrical engineering, multimedia design and information technology students displayed innovative projects including ‘smart’ appliances, unmanned aerial vehicles and vision tests based on brainwaves that attracted a large crowd.
Head of the School of ITEE, Professor Paul Strooper congratulated the students on the success of the expo and said that the strong innovation concepts may help influence the current aerospace, e-commerce and geothermal power generation industries.
“This event has provided an important platform for young UQ innovators to showcase their ideas, and for industry and school students to ask questions about the projects and the future of technology in these areas,” Professor Strooper said.
“Most of the projects we saw were inspired from aspects of our daily lives and the students did well in transforming their creativity into technology that may shape the way we live in years to come,” he said.
Winners announced during the expo included:
- Timothy Laing, awarded the CEED prize for Best Final Year Industry-based Thesis Project
- Igor Dimitrijevic, awarded the Farnell prize for Best Piece of Working Electronics Hardware
- Sami Alsubhi, awarded the GBST prize for Best Software Project
- Jonathan Aw, awarded the School of ITEE prize for Most Imaginative Demonstration of a Fourth Year Thesis Project
- Gavin Oakes, awarded the School of ITEE prize for Best Piece of Integrated Hardware.
The School of ITEE also successfully showcased more than 20 multimedia design projects at the 2010 Multimedia Design Exhibit held at ‘The Edge’, located at the Queensland State Library.
UQ Multimedia and Interaction Design Director Dr Ralf Muhlberger was pleased with the success of the evening and said that it was an invaluable experience for the aspiring multimedia designers from UQ to interact with industry partners, students and the public.
“It was an enjoyable evening where the crowd got to see fresh multimedia student design creations such as a hybrid dance/game inspired by iPhone; a virtual classroom interactive project; and a short 3D movie animation,” said Dr Muhlberger.
“Innovation has no boundary and we look forward to make next year’s showcase bigger and better,” he said.
