Narayan AmmachchiA team of student entrepreneurs from Chile won the Intel Award for Innovation for their creation of portable sensors that collect industrial workers’ biomedical data in real time. The sensors, pinned to the workers’ clothes, transmit valuable biomedical information, such as their heart rate, to devices such as smartphones, which then transfer the data to a cloud.
“The solution will be offered as a service, supplying industrial sites with the hardware and software for a monthly fee per worker,” said Intel in a press release.
Another Latin American team to win a top slot was Mexico’s Karmashop, which created a crowd-funding platform that allows users to customize how they receive donations and, in return, gives donors “Karma Points.”
The platform has currently been put to use for raising money for people affected by the recent floods in Mexico. The key feature of this app is that it provides several options for the donors to choose from. For example, they can choose to donate drinking water, first aid and shelter to Mexico’s flood victims.
The Chilean team is called Mobile Monitoring Station and is comprised of members from engineering research and development company SoluNova, Chilean mining company Coldeco and the University of Chile. Mobile Monitoring Station says it expects the sensors to result in a considerable drop in health dangers in industrial labor.
This is the ninth annual competition held by Intel and its chief aim is to encourage student entrepreneurs to tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues through computing technology and provide access to top venture capitalists and investors in Silicon Valley.
“Through the Intel Global Challenge at UC Berkeley, students around the world gain lifelong entrepreneurship and innovation skills they can apply throughout their careers, in fields ranging from healthcare to transportation,” said Staci Palmer, Intel’s director of Global Strategic Initiatives and Marketing in the Corporate Affairs Group.
The Intel Foundation awarded $100,000 in cash prizes, including a $50,000 grand prize and three $10,000 awards for teams taking first place in the following categories: Internet, mobile and software computing; computing for social innovation; and hardware and computing. In addition, four $5,000 special awards were presented.
Intel says the finalists were selected from over 18,000 entries from more than 60 countries around the world.
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