IT Students, Amen Shauqat, Julia Member, Maxsimilian Amalathas and Rashdin Mohamed Akbar, from Harrow College successfully reached the finals of 'Operation Innovation', a competition run by international tech company Fujitsu as a way to provide crucial project based learning opportunities and tech industry contact for the next generation of bright young minds.
During the competition, Fujitsu supported teams of four students from their Education Ambassador Partner institutions to create a prototype idea for an inventive new technology solution. The finalists ultimately present this Proof of Concept “Dragon’s Den” style to an expert Fujitsu panel (through Microsoft Teams) – with one team being crowned the 2020 winner.
For 2020, Fujitsu challenged learners to tackle a problem in the increasingly hard-pressed Healthcare or Education sectors. These topics were selected in particular this year as human-centric innovation is an incredibly important part of Fujitsu’s Technology and Service Vision – it’s vital that we all use our collective expertise to tackle society’s biggest challenges. Students were to apply AI and robotics concepts as part of the challenge, taking inspiration from exciting recent use-cases.
As one of the finalist teams, Amen, Julia, Maxsimilian and Rashdin presented their idea in a Dragon's Den style 15-minute pitch to a panel of Fujitsu specialists.
The team had the following to say about their experience in the competition;
Amen Shauqat - "I have learned many skills whilst participating in the competition. I learned how to be more confident and due to this I think I will be able to do any other presentation in the future. Our effort and teamwork made it easy for each one of us. I am grateful that I was a part of this great project."
Julia Member - "The competition encouraged me to create and develop an idea which could be practical and implemented in real life. I feel grateful to have been part of it, helping me gain professional skills and improve my confidence with public speaking."
Maxsimilian Amalathas - "Regardless of the results I feel this wonderful and remarkable experience has encouraged me to be more professional and confident in myself and for future presentations. Our hard work and dedication during the Fujitsu project helped me to develop numerous skills. I feel that I gained and enhanced my team working skills and also some interpersonal skills, which will definitely help me in my future and especially at my workplace. I am proud of being one of the finalists of the Fujitsu 2020 AI Project and I definitely feel that this remarkable experience enhanced my skills and my thoughts."
Rashdin Mohamed Akbar - "I feel mesmerized by how many steps we took to make our project a successful presentation. I think that the presentation we gave will be shown internally across Fujitsu where they will use this idea to make our environment a safer place. The project was an encouraging and wonderful experience where we had time to help each other and to share ideas. It was hard in the beginning because everyone had different ideas, but then in the end the idea became successful. I feel happy for the hard steps we as a team have taken to complete this project even when we were busy with coursework and exam preperation. It is an excellent effort that has given me new skills and benefits that will help my future studies and career. I feel extremely thankful for being given this opportunity and I hope that our efforts will make us successess in our future studies and careers."
- Rashdin Mohamed Akbar