'Zayed University e-biz challenge IV' winners announced at Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony

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The Gala Dinner was hosted by H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and President of Zayed University.

The top three winners of the 'Zayed University e-biz challenge' and the top three winners of the e-Services Competition were announced.

In first place for the 'Zayed University e-biz challenge' was 'Ascendants' from The University of Wollongong in Dubai. The Ascendants 'mNow!' plan allows users to receive information, pay credit card bills, utility bills, transfer money, shop, operate auto-retailing machines, etc. It offers people a way to simplify and efficiently carry out their everyday activities.

In second place was 'Chiplets' from The Higher Colleges of Technology Dubai Women's Campus. The Chiplets 'On-line Brokerage Service' plan will provide stock trading services for its traders.

In third place was 'The Legend' from The United Arab Emirates University. The Legend 'TeleParking' plan will introduce new methods for car park payment. TeleParking will introduce, Bluetooth, IR technologies in addition to the RFID technology, prepaid and subscription cards.

The e-Services Competition had three winners. In first place was 'Ascendants' from The University of Wollongong in Dubai. The Ascendants 'mNow!' allows mobile users a way to simplify and efficiently carry out their everyday activities by using their mobiles.

In second place was 'Phoenix' from the American University of Dubai. The Phoenix team hopes to use Dubai Virtual Reality by making 'Dubai4D'. Dubai4D will allow people to visit Dubai from the comfort of their own home using a revolutionary system that will integrate Information Technology, e-business, virtual reality and tourism.

In third place was 'Artistic Visionaries' from Preston University, Ajman. Artistic Visionaries 'Guide2eGovernance: Marketing Campaign to Increase Usage of E-service' will increase the usability of the Dubai government online services.

After forty roadshows throughout the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait and thousands upon thousands of e-mails to students and faculty throughout the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, the Challenge has come to a close. This year was the first year the 'Zayed University e-biz challenge' Team traveled outside the UAE. The team met and talked directly to 2335 students and faculty.

The number of students and faculty who participated in the 'Zayed University e-biz challenge', which encourages innovation, originality, entrepreneurship has risen each year since its beginning by approximately 50%. Last year, 263 teams registered, submitting 134 plans.

This year, 353 teams registered with 209 of those teams submitting Plans for the 'Zayed University e-biz challenge' and /or the e-Services Competition. Thirty-two universities from the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait registered with 30 of the universities having submitted plans.

One hundred and fifty six teams submitted 'Zayed University e-biz challenge IV' Plans and fifty-three teams submitted Plans for the e-Services Competition.

A group of enthusiastic and committed industry leaders met for the judging stage of the challenge on the March 7th and 8th. The judges came from BMW, IBM, Dubai e-Government, Campus Journal, Catch, Add Media, Microsoft, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Interma, ICDL GCC, Emerging Technologies, ABC Arabia, Emirates Centre for Entrepreneurship and Jacobsons Direct Marketing Services, LLC. The judges ranged from CEO's, Partners, Board of Directors, Vice President to Program Directors.

Fifty of the 'Zayed University e-biz challenge' plans and twenty-five e-Services Competition plans made it through a rigorous three stage screening process to reach the final stage of the judging which took place over two days. Each plan was carefully scrutinized by four groups of judges on the first day.

Twelve 'Zayed University e-biz challenge' plans and five e-Services Competition plans were selected to go through to the final stage of judging on the second day.

At the end of the review process, all judges came together to review and rank the plans. A dynamic debate followed, from which the rankings were determined for each competition and the winning three plans selected for both competitions.