Students unveil new technologies and business solutions

Students unveil new technologies and business solutions

Innovations to be revealed at Otago Polytechnic’s College of Enterprise and Development Showcase

An app that allows Trademe users to buy and sell business services, and an electrocardiography simulator used in the training of veterinarians, are just two of the student innovations that will be on show at Otago Polytechnic’s 2014 College of Enterprise and Development Showcase – part of the end-of-year Student Showcase ‘Excite’.

The Showcase will be held on Thursday 13 November at Gallery 1877 at Otago Museum, featuring more than 30 industry projects undertaken by students of the Bachelor of Information Technology, Bachelor of Applied Management and Graduate Diploma in Applied Management.

“Our students solve real business problems for real clients in innovative and creative ways, harnessing the latest technological advancements,” says Information Technology Professor Samuel Mann. “This Showcase celebrates their extraordinary achievements.”

The interactive exhibition will showcase a variety of IT projects, including Vetech, an electrocardiography (ECG) simulator to be used by trainee vets. “It displays the heart rhythms of various virtual animals, with options for different health conditions and states of activity and rest,” explains Matthew Gordon, who created the technology with fellow IT students Stacy Bateman and Brenton Duncan. “This removes the headache of trying to source live animals with various complaints to study.”

When Taieri Gorge Railway wanted a way of offering its passengers the choice of pre-recorded commentaries in various languages, in addition to the live commentary it provides in English, it turned to Otago Polytechnic IT students. The Train to the Future project involved installing WiFi on the train to allow passengers to use their own devices to access commentaries in their preferred languages, a system devised by Ben Van Der Loo and Adam Dackers. The technology could be adapted for different uses in the future, such as enabling passengers to order food or book other tourism activities from their seats.

The fruits of Business students’ internships and industry projects will also be on show. Bachelor of Applied Management student Megan Donald undertook a 400-hour internship at Cadbury, part of which involved assessing the economic and tourism impacts of the annual Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Carnival. Her work shows the economic impact of the event continues to increase steadily and there has been corresponding growth in attendance figures – with 34% of attendees coming from outside Dunedin.

Undertaking her industry project with Olveston is Graduate Diploma in Applied Management student, Inez Ariestiani. As the top-ranked New Zealand attraction on the TripAdvisor website, Olveston has little problem attracting international visitors, but Inez’s research has found that 40% of Dunedinites have never been to the historic home. She is now in the process of identifying strategies to increase the number of local visitors to Olveston, including the use of social media marketing.

“These industry partnerships help our students gain a real sense of the working world,” says Principal Lecturer and Business Internship Coordinator, Rachel Byars. “They gain valuable skills and work experience, and several of our students have already secured permanent employment with their industry partners.”

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