ACES
Hackathon 2018
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H
istory’s most beloved
scientist, Einstein once
said
“Imagination
is more important than
knowledge. Knowledge is
limited. Imagination encircles
the world.”
Imagination and innovation
could be the pillars of success
of Engineers. Hence, they
are cultivated within the
Engineering Undergraduates
through
events
like
Hackathon. Hackathon, in
general terms, is typically an
event lasting several days,
in which a large number
of people get together in
collaborative
computer
programming. Be it building
new
network
systems
or mobile services and
applications, the participants
are given a limited amount of
time and are evaluated at the
end.
ACES
Hackathon
2k18
was organized for the 7th
consecutive year, by the
Association of Computer
Engineering Students of
the Faculty of Engineering,
University of Peradeniya.
This is perhaps the biggest
Innovation
Platform
of
the year, held at an intra-
university stage. 150 students
PAGE| 18
in 27 teams from the Faculty
of Engineering participated
in this event with much
enthusiasm, from 8th to 10th
June.
What makes ACES Hackathon
2k18 stand out from the rest
is its peculiar and neoteric
theme “Commercialization”.
Participants were encouraged
to divergently think and come
up with an idea of a product
to solve day to day problems,
throughout the pre-idea
pitching events that took
place. The marketability and
business model were given a
priority as equal to that of the
engineering aspect. See, it
was not only the idea. It was
also how the concept in the
core of a mind reached the
grounds of reality, how the
finality of the product was
approached with the given
time constraint, and how
the idea was delivered and
shared with the audience,
the impact.
Yes, you could say ACES
Hackathon 2k18 took a great
step in bridging Engineering
and Entrepreneurship, which
in my opinion, best fits
today’s context.
The Idea Pitching Session
commenced around 5.30pm
University of Peradeniya GAUGE Magazine
at the EOE Pereira Theatre
on the first day. Following
the traditional lighting of the
oil lamp, the gathering was
welcomed by the president of
ACES, Kushan Dassanayaka.
Thereafter
Professor
Leelananda Rajapakse, Dean
of the Faculty of Engineering
and Dr. Dhammika Elkaduwe,
Head of the Department of
Computer Engineering shared
their ideas with the audience
respectively.
Rules
and
guidelines of the Hackathon
were then announced by
the organizers. From then
onwards, the 27 teams
pitched their innovative ideas
on stage, including a brief
explanation as to how they
are going to implement it
within the next one and half
days. The contestants were
given 4 minutes for pitching
and 2 minutes for Q&A from
the panel of judges which
comprised of the Members
of the Academic Staff.
Day 2 of ACES Hackathon
commenced in the faculty
around 8 am. Participants
cheerfully worked along with
their projects, as the Alumni
of the university mentored
the projects. The prototypes
were built, modified and
evaluation was done at the