Singapore Airlines, our homegrown pride which had recently clinched the number three position of the world’s top 100 airlines in 2016, has always been an ardent supporter of the local tech community, and last year, held their inaugural App Challenge.
Participants came in the form of some 100 students from the various local polytechnics and universities, all of them competing for the top prize that sends them off on a trip to the mecca of tech and developers – Silicon Valley.
Well, there’s good news for aspiring members of the local tech community – Singapore Airlines has just announced that they will be holding the App Challenge again, and it will coming soon!
‘A Great Way To Fly’
That’s the theme for the 2016 Singapore Airlines App Challenge, and again, participants will be provided real-world business challenges to build a digital application to enrich the experiences of the modern traveler.
In a bid to up the notch on excitement for the competition this year, SIA will make available to participants its application programming interfaces (APIs) related to flight schedule, flight status and check-in for the first time.
It is with hope that with these APIs, participating teams can stretch their creativity when developing their prototype apps.
Not Just Students Anymore
This year, the competition will also not just be limited to students of local institutions.
While the usual student category requirements still applies should you want to enter under the Student category, you will still be eligible to enter the App Challenge under the new Open category, where teams of a maximum of four members will be allowed to participate.
Participants of both categories however, stand to benefit from the various mentors that will be around to guide them onto the right track and to have a better understanding of the aviation industry.
There will be representatives from Singapore Airlines and renowned industry partners such as Microsoft, IBM and Amadeus, with support also coming from TCS, SITA, Salesforce, Red Hat, NUS Enterprise, NUS Institute of Systems Science, Deloitte, Cisco, StarHub, Singtel, Expedia and PayPal.
Here Are The Dates To Note
The event will kickoff on 1st October 2016, and will be held at the SIA Sports Club.
On this day, participants be presented to the SIA App Challenge business challenges that they will need to tackle. After which, there will also be workshops conducted by various industry partners, where they will share development tools that participants can take advantage of during their quest.
The finale will then be held on 8th October 2016, this time located at The Hangar by NUS Enterprise. This is the day when participants are to showoff their prototypes whilst giving a presentation. The winners will also be decided upon on that very day by a panel of judges.
What Can You Win?
The top prize for students again is of course, that much sought after trip to Silicon Valley that any student will dream of.
Once there, they will get to visit well-known technology companies such as Airbus, Google and IBM. In addition, the winning team may also gain an internship stint with SIA. Runners up will walk home with KrisFlyer miles that they will be able to use on their next flight on SIA.
For the Open category, the prizes are a lot more straightforward, with the Grand Prize being a return air ticket to any SIA destination, plus a cash prize of $5,000 for the team. Runners Up will get cash prizes.
For both categories, they will be an additional Team Prize to be won, called the Red Hat OpenShift Award.
The Challenge Will Be Bigger Than Ever
With close to 180 tertiary students at last year’s challenge, organisers are expecting a bigger turnout this year, thanks to the addition of the open category, as well as a new generation of creativity and innovation as participants re-imagine the modern travel experience enriched through technology.
If you would like to show off your skills in the App Challenge 2016, head on over to http://appchallenge.singaporeair.com. Registrations are already open, and will continue until it closes on 19th September 2016.
Feature Image Credit: Singapore Airlines
