Two Groups Qualify in Ideya Challenge

By Monna Senara

Two finalists have been chosen in the ongoing Ideya Challenge, whose fifth round of eliminations ends tomorrow, September 13, 2013.

The qualified entries were submitted by Team Raters, who proposed an aid to students in scholarship applications, and Team Find Eat and Go, who aspires to develop an application for the convenience of customers and companies in the food industry.

On the other hand, Team Find Eat and Go is composed of third year students Jan Zuriel Dionson and Christine Meriz from the BS Management program, and Jay Arnel Bilocura from the BS Computer Science program. The group’s idea, which qualified last August 13, aims to make an application that would connect customers to their desired restaurants.

“We believe that our idea will have a positive impact on the economy of the Philippines and our product will be beneficial to other people,” said Bilocura.

THE IDEYA CHALLENGERS. (left to right) Team Find Eat and Go: Jan Zuriel 

Dionson, Christine Meriz Codera , Jay Arnel Bilocura . 

Photo credits to Monna Senara

Team Scholarly, who qualified last July 25, is composed of third year BS Computer Science students Julia Menchavez, Mary Louise Hermosa, and Iona Concepcion. Having experienced the difficulties in finding scholarships, the three friends sought to develop an online listing and notification system for available scholarships.

“We chose to address this problem because we realize it’s not easy to look for scholarships, and the application process is long and tedious,” said Hermosa.

THE IDEYA CHALLENGERS. (left to right) Team Raters: Mary Louise Hermosa, 

Iona Concepcion , Julia Menchavez. Photo credits to Monna Senara

Dana Marie Perez, BS Computer Science senior and head organizer of Ideya Challenge said “We want to harness the creative minds of the participants and help them turn their ideas into business-viable solutions to problems in society and as well as producing marketable improvements to existing IT-based tools, products, and services.”

“The contest is a collaboration among UP Cebu, the UP Cebu Student Council (SC) and CeBuinIT. It is spearheaded and organized by Prof. Kurt Espinosa, UP Cebu TBI Manager, Department of Science and Technology (DOST),” Paula Esplanada of the Computer Science Department said.

To join, participants must form a team of three, with at least two students. One of the members must be a Computer Science student or must have relevant IT background. Each team is required to pick one or two teachers as their adviser. Each member of the team will have to login using their account in Facebook.

            According to an email from Prof. Espinosa, “Anyone can be a member of only one team during the bimonthly elimination rounds. The team can submit only one idea. If the team does not qualify in the bimonthly elimination round, they can submit another idea or the same idea but more refined according to the comments of the screening committee for the next bimonthly elimination round. Anyone can be a member of different teams per elimination round. If the team qualifies during the bimonthly elimination round, they can no longer submit another new idea for the next rounds nor be a member of any other team.”

            The teams should post their ideas and solutions on Ideya Challenge’s website, where voting for the elimination round will take place. The ideas are simply screened out based on the soundness of the idea, business viability and its impact to society.

            (For the elimination round from June-October)The screening committee’s vote will comprise 90% of the average, while 10% of the vote will come from the participants.

            For the top ten ideas, the screening committee vote will comprise 80% of the score while the participants 20%; the top ten winners will be announced on November 15.

            For the final round, the top ten will be ranked from 1 to 10, 1 being the highest by judges composed of investors who have expressed interest in investing in the winners. The top 3 teams in terms of total rank will emerge as winners. Winners will be recommended to national and international startup competitions. The final event will be on November 26, 2013.

            Chosen ideas will also have the opportunity to be developed at the CeBuinIT, as a joint project between UP Cebu and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The winner will receive Php 10,000 and two free website hosting, while the top 2 and top 3 will receive Php 7,000 and Php 5,000 respectively.

Deadline of the fifth round of submissions is on September 13. Screening of the fifth batch is on September 14 to 15.