OAKVILLE, ON – Cisco Canada has awarded $10,000 to four Sheridan College students for devising an innovative application to be used during the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games (TORONTO 2015).
The winning team, all students from Sheridan’s post graduate certificate program in interactive multimedia, was announced after an all-day ‘Idea-A-Thon’ event held last week at Sheridan’s Oakville campus. Team ‘Fantastic Four’, consisting of students Chau Le, Yee Ting Lee, Leena Salem and Jason Smith, beat out eight other student groups with their idea for a Pan-Ambassadors geo-tracking application that will enable non-English-speaking visitors to TORONTO 2015 to connect in real-time with locals who speak their language.
In total, nine teams devised and pitched their ideas during the Idea-A-Thon. The students were aided throughout the day by mentors made up of representatives from Cisco, Sheridan, Soft Gravity, Fuse Marketing, and TORONTO 2015. The top five ideas were presented to a panel of three judges.
“We heard some genuinely fantastic and creative ideas, and having to choose a single winning team was very hard. Ultimately we chose the team that presented the best opportunity for visitors, fans and businesses to truly connect in an enriching and positive manner”, said Ron Dekker, Cisco Canada’s VP of corporate development, in the news release. “Cisco looks to foster Canadian innovation, especially within youth, college and business entrepreneurs, and it was a thrill to see that mandate come to life.”
Cisco is the premier partner and official information and communications technology provider of the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games. The Games are scheduled for July 10 – 26 and August 7 – 14, 2015, and will involve municipalities stretching from Oshawa to Welland in southern Ontario.
