Around 40 of the East Midlands IoT’s students on digital, animation and data-driven courses at academic partners the University of Derby, Derby College and Loughborough College took part in the Challenge; held at the University’s Enterprise Centre in Derby.
‘Client’ Derby City Council set students the challenge of creating a digital -based solution, such as a mobile phone app, to help people better access public transport for work or learning in Derbyshire. Their solutions had to make it easier for city and county residents to plan their journey, and switch between different modes of transport and/or company providers.
Students worked with their tutors and mentors from two of the East Midlands IoT’s business partners; Bloc Digital (a digital technology innovation company headquartered in Derby) and Toyota Manufacturing UK with support from Toyota Connected Europe, to develop and test their solutions over five days.
On the final day students presented their ideas to a judges’ panel of:
• East Midlands IoT Executive Director Rachel Quinn
• Jorgen Pederson, lead developer on the RIDE multi-modal transport app for Nottingham and Derby
• Owen Swift, Head of Climate and Active Environment, Derby City Council
• Chris Barrow, External Affairs at Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK
• Daniel Quagraine, UX/UI Designer at Bloc Digital.
Winning teams demonstrated most impact in the four categories of ‘creativity and innovation’, ‘teamwork and communication’, ‘user accessibility’ and ‘technical use of data’.
The Digital Challenge event was developed and run with the support of the Gill Scott Consultancy, drawing on their experience of running similar projects in Greater Manchester.
Students will now work on developing their initial transport planning proposals, with the help of the businesses and organisations involved in the Digital Challenge.
Share this post: