Finalist teams announced in Mayor's Telstra Technology Award

The 12 finalist teams in the Mayor’s Telstra Technology Award have been announced. 

The inaugural Mayor’s Telstra Technology Award 2014, run in partnership with Telstra and Bond University, offers students the opportunity to develop a technological idea or product, such as an app or software.

The 12 finalist teams come from a total of nine Gold Coast high schools. The schools and the names of their entries are as follows.

• The Southport School (TSS) - Beach Patrol Robot
• The Southport School –Southport State High School - The Alsavla Hexaphone
• Varsity College - Background Reminders
• Varsity College - TrakKing 
• Varsity College - Handy Measure
• St. Michael’s College - Changing Education Through Technology
• Merrimac State High School - House of Tomorrow
• Merrimac State High School - Go Green
• Coomera Anglican College - Gold Coaster
• Miami State High School - Smart Road Tile
• Aquinas College - City of Gold Coast App – The Gold Coast at your fingertips
• Marymount College - MMC Locator

Acting Mayor Donna Gates congratulated all the teams on reaching finalist stage.

“It is heartening to see the effort and imagination the students are putting into their entries. Judging from some of the entries we’ve already seen, the potential for innovative business ideas is well and truly alive among Gold Coast youth,” she said.

Telstra’s Area General Manager for the Gold Coast, Darren Clark, said he too, was impressed by the standard of entries he had seen so far.

“Telstra is here to support education and help build the innovators and leaders of the future. This competition is certainly helping to do just that,” he said.  

Each team will now have five weeks to further develop their idea or concept. During this phase, the students will receive mentoring and coaching sessions with Bond University academic staff and technical representatives from Telstra and Samsung.

Bond University Professor of Communication and Creative Media, Jeffrey Brand, is one of the award judges. He said the calibre of student entries was inspiring and exciting.
 
“We are looking forward to working with these young innovators over the coming months to nurture their ideas and take them to the next level.”
In the final phase of the competition, each of the 12 groups will present a five minute pitch to the panel of judges at a special ceremony at Bond University (Monday 15 September) and a winner then selected from those presentations.

Prizes for the students in the winning team include:

Three Samsung Galaxy S5

Three Samsung Gear Fit

Three Harman and Kardon Onyx speakers

One Telstra Thanks® private screening at a gold class cinema with invited guests

An educational experience – a day in the life of a Telstra or Samsung representative

Prizes for the winning school include:

An eight-week startup apprentice program delivered by Silicon Lakes

A suite of Samsung products to the value of (RRP) $20,000

The Mayor’s Telstra Technology Award 2014 is proudly sponsored by Telstra, Bond University, Samsung and Silicon Lakes.