A voice call that creates a website automatically, a visually impaired person clicking a perfect picture, a mere SMS that effectively connects blood donor and seeker, casting a vote through the comforts of a mobile and creating campaigns with a touch screen mobile.
Many may call this wishful thinking, but a few youngsters have shaped these ideas into reality. Providing a platform for them was Microsoft ‘Imagine Cup’, the student apps technology competition.
These interesting ideas were presented, and defended, by student teams from across the country in front of a panel of judges at the Microsoft India Development Center (MSIDC) in the city on Tuesday.
“A voice call can create a business and spread it using all platforms,” argued Devesh Kumar of BIT, Mesra (Bihar), who said thousands of small companies can be connected to millions of customers using their app ‘Opus’.
All that they need to do is make a call and register their information. “It’s an explosive idea and will change the fortunes of lakhs of small businesses in the country,” Devesh says.
With their app, Abhinav Tripathi’s team presents a ray of hope for the visually-impaired who cannot read.
The app guides the blind to take a perfect picture of any text and later reads it out.
“A blind man asking Abhinav to read out a phone number from a visiting card sparked the idea,” say other members of the team.
Connecting a blood donor and seeker is the app created by a team of the city-based Keshav Memorial Institute of Technology (KMIT).
“It’s difficult to sift through the thousands of donor data now available; but this app is designed to ensure that the donor from the nearest point can contact the seeker immediately,” says team leader Maurya Kummamuru.
The Piyush Agarwal-led Kartavya team has the potential to create campaigns for NGOs and social groups to reach millions, reducing time and travel hassles.
The Swastya Sanjivni app from Nikhil Dalmia and friends is an affordable, automated, on-the-spot blood and urine testing system with immediate, confirmatory results.
“Imagine its impact on the millions of rural people who don’t have access to healthcare,” exclaims Dalmia.
Talha Naqvi’s Eduheap app promises to amalgamate the best of educational portals and provides highly-personalised tools for learning. A team from VIT, Vellore, with their EasyVote app, hope to revolutionise voting in a vast country like India.
