|
They may
not be veterans of IT case studies competitions but they
certainly have made an impression with the movers and
shakers in Singapore’s digital economy.
“Overall, we were impressed by everyone's enthusiasm… Some
of the ideas were innovative and their presentations were
good.” That was a comment that the distinguished panel of
judges made about the inaugural StarHub-NUS Asian IT Case
Studies Competition. The panel (full list
here) comprised
captains of industry and academicians noted for their work
in their respective fields. Their observations are therefore
not to be trifled with.
 |
|
(From
left to right): The top winners with
Mr Alex Siow, the 1st runners-up
with Mr Alex Siow, the 2nd
runners-up with Dr Chai Kah Hin, and
A/P Teo Hock Hai delivering the
opening speech |
A total of 14 teams competed for three top prizes in the
competition. The teams, each comprising three members, were
given a real-world case study to work on for 48 hours. They
were to come up with a creative solution in the interim, and
present it to the judges on competition day, which was 28
March 2009.
The 48-hour interval between release of case and
presentation of solution is a tradition in case studies
competition. The aim is to immerse participants with an
actual problem and to challenge them to devise a plausible
and indeed laudable solution within a given timeframe.
Case studies competition, as a rigorous tool of learning, is
gaining interest in America. Two recent examples are the
International Case Competition on Strategic Value of IT
Management held in the US city of Las Vegas in November
2008, and CaseIT 2009 held in Vancouver, Canada, in February
2009.
Commenting on the competition in NUS, Information Systems
Assistant Professor Pan Shan Ling, the prime mover behind
the event said: “To most of our students, case competition
was new. After the experience, many have expressed interests
in participating in this type of competitions again in the
future.”
Associate Professor Teo Hock Hai, Head of the Department of
Information Systems, made clear the intent in organising the
competition: “It is our hope that with this Competition, the
Department of Information Systems can provide students in
NUS School of Computing and other faculties in the
University a forum to approach a real-world problem in the
form of a case study.”
“We wish to provide contestants with an authentic context,
where they can apply their analytical skills and the domain
knowledge that they have acquired in their course of study,
to find a solution that can withstand professional
scrutiny,” Prof Teo added
Setting his sight beyond the immediate, Prof Teo announced
this plan: “I am pleased to announce that the Asian IT Case
Competition will go regional next year. It is my hope that
this year’s Competition will serve as useful preparation for
our competitors to take on the best from the region in
2010.” He was speaking at the opening of the Competition
finals.
Three teams emerged winners from the grueling full-day
finals, where all 14 teams made their first presentations in
the morning. The finalists were then chosen, and had to make
their case in the afternoon.
The winning teams that emerged were:
1st Place: (from SoC) Guan Dian, Jonathan Tan, Agyesh Madan
2nd Place: (from SoC) Pillarisetti Jaidev, Mayank Gupta,
Pawandeep Singh
3rd Place: (from BIZ)Thng Joo Kai, Teng Wei Yang, Lin Si Qi
Honourable mentions: (from SoC) Ankit Tibrewal,
Harsha Singalreddy, Kalpit Jain
StarHub was title sponsor while IEEE was sponsor
of the event.
More about the competition may be found
here
---------------- |