Member Article

Top software innovators to compete Down Under

A team of North East technology students are representing the UK in a major international software competition, after developing an innovative app to spot early signs of sight loss.

Team Eyeworks, comprised of students Northumbria University and Newcastle College, were the overall winners of the Microsoft Imagine Cup Software Design Competition in the UK, and are now heading to Australia in July to compete in the worldwide finals.

The team successfully progressed to the UK finals after competing in a ‘36 hour hack’ including workshops and seminars to provide knowledge to compete nationally.

The UK Final was inspired by the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which asked students to find technical solutions to the world’s most challenging problems.

Team Eyeworks created a mobile app as a low cost way of identifying early stage sight loss to address a UK study highlighting that 50% of the 2 million cases of UK sight loss in the UK could have been prevented.

Images are taken of the user’s retina, and then photographs are compared to a library of images containing retinal abnormalities stored on the Microsoft Azure online cloud. Images are analysed using a series of artificial neural networks indicating the probability of infection.

Colin Squires, a student at Newcastle College is one of the members of Team Eyeworks. He said: “A lot of people take the gift of sight for granted and don’t realise how easily this gift can be taken away from them, due to everyday conditions, which, if detected early, can be prevented.

“Through our technology, we hope conditions such as cataracts can be caught early and treatment made available for the afflicted through charities such as Doctors Without Borders or The Red Cross.

“Getting through to the worldwide finals instils in me a sense of pride. I feel honoured to be given the opportunity to represent my university and my country.”

There is currently no mobile device on the market with a suitable camera and lens package, so Team Eyeworks are also developing a lens attachment, chin rest and camera stand. After the finals, the team hope to get the product out to market, whilst also developing the technology for other medical fields including the detection of skin disorders.

If the team win the worldwide finals, they would receive a top prize of over £15,000.

The preliminary events in the North East were organised by Sunderland Software Cit anmd Codeworks. David Dunn, chief executive officer at Sunderland Software City, said: “The fact that Team Eyeworks will now go to Australia and represent the UK in the worldwide finals is

extremely exciting and will help to further strengthen the region’s already impressive reputation within the international software community.“

Emilia Flockhart, communications executive at Codeworks, added: “We at Codeworks are incredibly proud of all the teams who put themselves forward to compete in the competition.

“They all worked exceptionally hard on their projects, and we are thrilled to see that the hard work has paid off not just for Team Eyeworks, but for many of the other teams who gained invaluable employment contacts through the competition.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .