Students impress and come top for North West in Cisco University Challenge
Students from the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences recently competed in the first Cisco University Challenge, showcasing their programming and business innovation skills. The students came second out of 20 teams, gaining the top place for a North West University, with Cisco commenting that they were ‘really impressed by the standard of the solutions’ the students created.
This hackathon-style event requires students to address one of the four problem statements surrounding the concept of Internet of Everything (IoE) and Station as a Service (StaaS). (1) Automated detection and response support to unattended luggage, (2) Remote monitoring of station assets, (3) Dynamic retail demand forecasting and (4) Real-time journey information. Team members were required to work together and manage the processes required to showcase a creative solution and project proposal to the panel of Cisco judges within 24 hours. The LJMU students’ idea, which led to their success, was a Cloud-based multi-platform software solution that draws data from sensors to provide useful real-time journey information to enhance train passengers’ experience.
These real life scenarios were based on Cisco’s own work to offer the teams insights into the realities of the working world. The event also included guidance from some of the industry’s leading experts and was an opportunity for students to network with Cisco career staff.
Speaking on the Cisco blog, Ian Foddering, Director System Engineer, GEO Sales commented: “This year’s University Challenge has given the students the opportunity to make connections, learn from industry leaders and show what they can do. But it works both ways, too – the event has given us an unrivalled opportunity to connect with the next wave of talent and take inspiration from what could, and based on the evidence on show will, become the brightest tech minds of the future.”
Dr Stephen Tang, who strategically assembled the student team to represent for the technology innovation challenge, said:
“It was a great opportunity for our students with diverse background and skillsets to work as a team and solve real-world problems using the next generation cutting edge technologies developed at Cisco.
"This is an excellent performance by the students considering the team was only put together in six days prior to the event, none of the students have worked together before and was given very brief detail about the about the challenge. And within 24 hours, they worked as a unit to come out with a business plan and a working-prototypical solution to the problem.
“Their achievement reflects on their genuine passion, effort and the transferability of the knowledge and skills learnt from their respective programme of studies.
“This challenge has certainly widen their perspective, given them the confidence booster, and a memorable student experience.”
The team commented on their experiences:
“The speakers were industry leaders and their speeches were inspirational. The scenarios we were presented with were genuinely challenging and an excellent reflection of real world problems. The mentors from Cisco gave us some really valuable advice and the challenge has helped me to identify areas where I can improve both my technical and business skills.” Jamie Roberts, BSc. Computer Studies (Team Lead, Hardware and Software Solution)
“This was a fantastic opportunity in a great competition, competing with the top students of UK and interacting with so many senior engineers.” Koh Song Sang, MSc. Computer Network Security (Software Developer)
“We discussed each other’s strengths and weaknesses in order to understand who would be doing what before we even landed at the Cisco headquarters. Overall it was a fantastic experience, learning curve and confidence booster.” Zoe Devlin, BSc (Hons) IT and Multimedia (Business Development & Public Relation)
"The work output required made the event very challenging but also very rewarding because the comments we received from the judging panel about our final concept was extremely positive. I would definitely recommend the challenge to other students." Cameron Snook, BSc. (Hons) IT and Multimedia (Media Designer & Public Relation)
“The entire experience was insightful and rewarding, as we not only were invited to Cisco’s headquarters but also given the opportunity to network and see the industry in practice.” Mohammad Farrukh, BSc. (Hons) Computer Studies (Visual designer & Front-End Developer)
School of Computing and Maths courses can be viewed here
Details of the scenarios given to the students are now made public by Cisco as part of their Connected Transport Challenge
Photo: Cameron Snook, BSc. (Hons) IT and Multimedia (Media Designer & Public Relation), Zoe Devlin, BSc (Hons) IT and Multimedia (Business Development & Public Relation), Jamie Roberts, BSc. Computer Studies (Team Lead, Hardware and Software Solution), Koh Song Sang, MSc. Computer Network Security (Software Developer) and
Mohammad Farrukh, BSc. (Hons) Computer Studies (Visual designer & Front-End Developer)
