Flinders innovators win big at State iAwards

Nadine Saadi (representing Thomas Arbon, SMEOSH) Undergraduate Student winner Max Hughes (ORBIT), Community winner David Hobbs (ORBIT), Undergraduate Student Merit winner Luke Larsen (AR Music Studio) and New Venture Institute Director Matt Salier (representing Professor Richard Constantine, CIO of the year).
Nadine Saadi (representing Thomas Arbon, SMEOSH),Undergraduate Student winner Max Hughes (ORBIT), Community winner David Hobbs (ORBIT), Undergraduate Student Merit winner Luke Larsen (AR Music Studio), New Venture Institute Director Matt Salier (representing Professor Richard Constantine, CIO of the Year).

Staff and students from Flinders University have been recognised for their innovations and impact across the information and communications technology (ICT) industry at the 2014 South Australian iAwards, announced on Friday (June 27) at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

The annual iAwards aim to discover, recognise and reward ICT innovations that are making or could make a positive impact in the community – at home, in the office and on a global scale. The iAwards also recognise the achievements of ICT professionals, chief information officers and innovators.

Flinders University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (Information Services), Professor Richard Constantine, was awarded Chief Information Office of the Year for his instrumental role in substantially improving ICT services at the University. Professor Constantine was commended for his leadership in the delivery of the Connecting Flinders project, which will establish the most advanced network backbone and digital collaboration infrastructure of its type in the sector though a $14 million investment with leading international ICT supplier Cisco.

Flinders Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Systems) student Thomas Arbon won the Tertiary Undergraduate Student prize for ‘SMEOSH’ – a mobile app that makes it easier for small to medium businesses to manage and comply with occupational health and safety laws. The concept originated during Venture Dorm 2013 by Strategiize, the innovation management platform supporting commercialisation at Flinders, and was later developed during Mr Arbon’s 20-week placement at Flinders Partners.

The Undergraduate Student Project Merit went to Bachelor of Information Technology (Digital Media) students Luke Larsen, Terri Williams, Scott Von Stanke and Jayson Bailey for the development of the Augmented Reality Music Studio, an iPad based app that leverages the power of augmented reality, allowing novice users to create complex, engaging musical pieces.

‘ORBIT’, a novel device invented by Flinders lecturer David Hobbs, won the Community category prize. The ‘orb’ shaped gaming controller – a collaboration between Flinders University, the University of South Australia and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital – allows children with a disability such as cerebral palsy to play games that would usually be too difficult because of the fine motor skills required to use a traditional games controller.

The winners of the State iAwards will go on to compete against the winners of other State and Territory awards for the National iAwards, which will be held at the Melbourne Convention Centre on August 29.

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