UoSM students win S’pore award for app
THREE students from the University of Southampton Malaysia (UoSM)have become the youngest mavericks to win an award in a hackathon designed for professionals.
The team won the ‘Most Impactful Project’ award for their app that improves court recordings during the Blockchain SPIRIT Hackathon at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The team was comprised of engineering students Do Wen Rei, Delveer Singh and Chia Tze Hank.
They created the ‘Legal-chain’, a solution that uses Microsoft’s speech recognition technology to generate court transcripts for legal proceedings. The solution then stores this information in a blockchain – a chain of information – to make the recordings unalterable.
“This is engineering at its best,” said Prof. Rebecca Taylor, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Asean) and CEOof UoSM. Being one of the youngest participants in this hackathon, the team received coaching from Anthony Law, one of event’s technical trainers.
Blockchain technology is the underlying platform used in Bitcoin, the world’s first electronic cash. Despite it being a new technology, recent platform innovations suggest the potential benefits of blockchain adoption for various sectors including banking, insurance, legal, and government.
The two-day hackathon challenge proved to be a lifechanging experience for the team.
According to Wen Rei, it was a great opportunity to try out their ideas and receive feedback from the judges.
Meanwhile for Tze Hank and Delveer, this experience has given them the confidence to join more competitions in the near term.
The duo previously made it in the nationals in the Microsoft Imagine Cup, and they hope to make it to the regional next year.
Blockchain developers are currently in short supply and hot demand. According to freelance talent marketplace, Upwork blockchain developers is among the top 20 fastest-growing roles.
The University of Southampton Malaysia has recognised this need and is working with industry partners to educate and develop the next generation of students into interesting and exciting roles in engineering.