Winners of 9th mts app competition declared

At the ceremony following the completion of the 9th mts app competition, the Telekom Srbija company granted the awards – valuable mobile phones – to teams of students, who, according to the jury’s decision, had craeted the best mobile applications. The student teams presented their applications at Belgrade’s Startit Centre, the best being FaceTrade from the Boljai High School (Senta), Spakuj se! (Pack Yourself!) and HelpHub from the Bora Stanković High School (Niš), Starlight from the Svetozar Marković High School (Niš) and Quizy from the Palanačka High School (Smederevska Palanka). 

“We are very proud of the competition participants, who despite their obligations at school, managed to commit themselves to work and development of the applications that have practical use and are a ready-made product. Their results confirm that they certainly possess the knowledge and skills necesary for success in the era of digital technologies. We believe that their participation in this competition was a valuable experience and that it is only the first step and an introduction to successes that lie ahead of them”, said Danijela Simeunović, the head of the CSR Section of Telekom Srbija adding that the mts app competition is one of the leading projects within the We Support the Initiators program by which Telekom Srbija tries to support and encourage young people to launch positive changes in their environment.

Through work on the application, the aim of the mts app competition is to improve the process of knowledge acquisition, the development of an entrepreneurial spirit and cooperation between youth, and establish a connection with the core acitivity of Telekom Srbija. For nine years already the company has been successfully organizing the mts app competition attended by teams of high school students involved in a specialized curriculum for talents in the sphere of mathematics, information science and computing. Apart from the originality and innovativness, the jury espeically valued the functionality of applications and their contribution to the use of mobile phones, as well as their socially responsible purpose.

There were 19 applications in this year’s competition, while the best five teams will also participate in the regional competition finals – the Regional App Challenge, which will be held in Banjaluka in mid-February. Teams of participants from Serbia will meet with the participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, since the competition is also held in these countries according to the same rules, under the auspices of m:tel Banja Luka and m:tel Montenegro. The authors of the winning application will have the chance to visit the city of Porto and attend one of the most significant European conferences gathering programmers and IT experts. A special award for innovativenss The Power of Innovation – Igor Osmokrović will be awarded in Banjaluka. 

Over 2,000 students have so far been acquainted with the mts app competition, while 153 teams have presented 160 applications. The competition has been selected by the prestigious European organization CSR Europe, and it is supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development.

Descriptions of the five best applications at the 9th mts app competition:

FaceTrace – the Prave Face team from the Boljai High School (Senta): The FaceTradce application has been designed as a help in finding the right partner not only based on location and age, but also facial features. After creating a profile, the user assesses the facial features of several persons, based on which the application with the help of artificial intelligence determines what kind of face the user likes. Theusers are then shown photographs of a person closest to their choice. The algorhytham continues to learn at each assessmentin order to improve its next offer of profiles. The applicaiton uses a data base of already assessed faces and a cloud service.  

Spakuj se!(Pack Yourself) – the Ekipa team from the Bora Stanković High School (Niš): The ideafor this application was the result of a need to respond to various requests of the customer using mobile phones. The selection of the right package is not an easy task, and this application makes it possible to quickly find out which packages are suitable for you through a conversatin with virtual agents. 

HelpHub – the OK Boomer team from the Bora Stanković High School (Niš): The application allows you to provide assistance in emergency situation where a click on the button alarms all persons who could be of help and alarms the people arouind you and gives them instructions fro help. If you have a health problem or you need constant medical assistance, this application is ideal for you.

Starlight – the Augmentum team from the Svetozar Marković High School (Niš): The idea of the application is to improve the world in which we live, whether these are tourist sites, museums, schools, companies, etc. with the help of AR technology.

Quizy – the AIShark team from the Palanačka High School (Smederevska Palanka): Quizy is an application in which the user creates quizzes by entering questions and answers at his own will, which can be further shared with other users. The application offers various types of playing quizzes combining a classical quizz with video games. It is primarily intended for an easier and more entertaining learning process where the teacher would create quizzes while the students would play.