EATL awards best mobile apps makers

ICT solution provider Ethics Advance Technology Ltd (EATL) awarded the winners of its Mobile App Development Contest 2013 on Saturday.
Dalvik Coders, a team consisting of the students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, won the first prize of Tk 5 lakh for their concept of developing a platform -- CourseMate -- to connect students, teachers and institutions of Bangladeshi universities.
ICT Minister Mostafa Faruque Mohammed handed over the awards at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in the capital.
Mobile has turned into an essential product now-a-days, which can be used to develop innovative ideas, the minister said.
The champion application will allow its users to enjoy university specific experience, create and plan daily schedule, courses, classes, exams and assignments.
CourseMate will also help students to keep in touch with instructors, keep track of progress in semesters and courses via connectivity and social media.
Students of Dhaka University and American International University of Bangladesh formed the first runner-up team: Logic Spinners.
They received Tk 2 lakh for developing the application -- Find for Me -- that helps its users communicate with the nearest police station, fire service, hospital with a single click call or through a text.
The Aim, a team of the students of the Military Institute of Science and Technology, won Tk 1 lakh for securing the second runner up position for the concept of Save Life, a platform of blood donors and their location.
EATL officials will provide jobs to all the top 10 finalists of the four-month contest of 188 teams.
MA Mubin Khan, managing director of EATLApps, a Bangladeshi mobile app store of EATL, said they arranged grooming sessions for the contestants to shape up the concepts and the top 10 apps have been posted on the site of the store.
“A team of EATLApps are now researching to develop the apps to an international level,” he said.
The aim of the company is to develop all the innovative ideas into applications, which will cause a revolution in the country's ICT sector, Khan said.
The prize money will be doubled in the next competition where the organisers hope to see around 1,000 participants that would start in the middle of the year, he said.
It was hard to collect 50 desktops for a programming competition in the same venue 16 years ago, said Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, vice chancellor of University of Asia Pacific.
But the time has changed, he said, adding that people now use smartphones with stronger processors than the old desktops.