The University of Queensland’s Innovation Expo 2002 is due to open at the new UQ Centre.
The event will showcase ideas and research from some of the University’s leading information technology and electrical engineering students.
The third annual Innovation Expo, which will be held on Tuesday, October 29 is an initiative of UQ’s School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE). Expo Project Manager Jon Whitty said the reason the event started was to allow the final-year students to communicate and demonstrate their work to the public.
“This is the final part, the show and tell of the thesis work on a public platform. “In the past we have had a great response from industry. “Last year students were handed business cards and some have gone on to acquire jobs with these businesses,” Mr Whitty said.
The event will give businesses, students and the public the opportunity to meet the innovators of the future and discover some of the products they could be using in 10 years time.
The sponsors of the event will award prizes to the students, based on merit and ability. Head of School at ITEE Professor Simon Kaplan said the event would be an opportunity for the School to showcase its research and teaching through the project work of final-year undergraduate students.
“ITEE prides itself on its excellence in research and teaching in all aspects of Information Technology & Electrical Engineering in Australia. “Strong links with industry and the general public are highly valued by the School, its staff and its students. “The Innovation Expo is an important part of the maintenance and expansion of these links,” Professor Kaplan said.
Projects on display will include: an invention that can create a 3D reconstruction of the human face; a device used in cars that can read road signs; and a team of soccer playing robots.
Sponsors of the event include Queensland Rail, The Institute of Engineers Australia – Queensland Division, Dell and host sponsor UQ’s School of ITEE.
Prizes will be awarded in 10 different areas including, most innovative contribution to the field, the best piece of working electronics and best final year presentation. Projects have been divided into three main categories: Engineering; Information Environments; and Information Technology.
Queensland Rail will present a prize for the best poster, with the winner receiving two business-class return tickets from Brisbane to Rockhampton on the tilt train.
Mr Whitty said those attending the event would include the sponsors and business sectors of the community as well as around one hundred invited guests and a large number of South East Queensland schools.
For more information, contact Jon Whitty (telephone 07 3365 9797, email: jonw@itee.uq.edu.au) or UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 3367, email: communications@uq.edu.au).
