SINGAPORE, 7 August 2014 - A mobile app that tells drivers where to find empty lots in open-air car parks, one that uses facial recognition technology to mark classroom attendance, and a location-based mobile app to check out where your friends are.

These innovative apps, which will be showcased at M1 Limited's (M1) Future Lab, were developed by the winners of the National University of Singapore's (NUS) iCreate Mobility Challenge 2014. The fourth edition of the annual competition is organised by the NUS Centre for Instructional Technology, NUS Computer Centre and NUS Enterprise, with support from M1 and Microsoft BizSpark. NUS Enterprise will also work to help commercialise suitable apps, and partner M1 to bring the apps to market.

"M1 has always supported youth and children causes, and we have made significant investments over the years in aid of our beneficiaries. Our support for the iCreate Mobility Challenge complements our efforts to make a positive impact on our youth, as well as helping us to make available innovative and useful mobile services to our customers," said Mr Willis Sim, Director, Product Development and Enterprise Services, M1.

"Over the past two to three months, the iCreate Mobility Challenge participants have learnt how to create a useful app that is relevant to the end user. When it came to the Most Enterprising Award, we were looking for apps that had a scalable business model, addressing a decent market size. NUS Enterprise is delighted to partner with M1 in exploring how to commercialise some of these winning apps, allowing their impact to be felt by the public. We will be working with teams that are keen to move their ideas forward, by providing incubation support, which includes mentorship, fundraising assistance, validation support, access to international markets, licensing support and hot-desking space," said Dr Lily Chan, CEO NUS Enterprise.

"The iCreate Mobility Challenge was envisioned to expose our students to real world dynamics and challenge them to create innovative and useful mobile apps. Since the first challenge, our students came up with mobile apps which eventually became mainstream for NUS students. This year, we expanded the scope to benefit Singaporeans. The submissions showed great potential to be apps that Singaporeans will use on a daily basis," said Mr Jeffery Tay, Associate Director Centre for Instructional Technology.

M1 launched its Future Lab initiative in October 2013 to enable companies to experience innovative technologies such as cloud services, sensors, surveillance and fleet management, and to better understand how they can tap on such tools to enhance productivity and business prospects. As part of M1 long-standing commitment to further youth and student causes, M1 made the Future Lab's full suite of tools and services, including hosting and devices for testing, available to Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Electronic & Computer Engineering students, to help nurture the students' interest in developing mobile applications. Additionally, M1 also sponsored prizes for Ngee Ann Polytechnic's first app development competition, the M1 Future Lab School Challenge.

The M1 Future Lab is located at M1's Regional Operating Centre in Aljunied. It is open from 9am to 6pm on weekdays.

Annex A:

Winners: Most Enterprising Category

-   Team Sure Park (Neil Mehta, Suchet Bhasin, Louis Tran and Tai Ngoc Huynh) : A high-tech 
    parking solution that provides real-time parking lot availability information to drivers via smart 
    phone application, and directing the driver to the nearest vacant parking space available. This 
    reduces wait time and road congestion due to cars waiting for parking

-   Apallo (Bay Chuan Wei Candiie, Muhammad Muzamir Bin Mohd Nasir and Samuel Lim Yi Jie) : The social
    networking platform allows NUS students to find and chat with others who share similar interests in 
    the vicinity

-   AppointMe (Chen Ying Min, Guha Nathan Ravinathan and Saloni Kaur) : The AppointMe online platform 
    allows the user to book an appointment in any clinic in Singapore

Winners: iCreate Mobile Category

-   Apallo (Bay Chuan Wei Candiie, Muhammad Muzamir Bin Mohd Nasir and Samuel Lim Yi Jie) : The social 
    networking platform allows NUS students to find and chat with others who share similar interests in 
    the vicinity

-   InfiniteLoopers (Anusha Ravishankar, Rajeswari Gangasani, Ramprasath Ramamurthi, Sharique Azam) :  
    InfiniteLoopers' I'm In facial recognition application aims to capture student attendance using the Facial 
    Recognition techniques

-   Team Jonathan (Jonathan Lau Wei Jie, Jonathan Tan Jye How) - Feedbaker is the solution for presenters t
    to get live response from their audience. The lightweight web application allows presenters to quickly 
    create polls and get instant feedback from the audience - all this without any expensive system or devices


M1 is Singapore's most vibrant and dynamic communications company, providing mobile and fixed services to over 2 million customers. Established in 1997, M1 achieved many firsts, including the first operator to offer nationwide 4G service, as well as ultra high-speed fixed broadband, fixed voice and other services on the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (NGNBN). With a continual focus on network quality, customer service, value and innovation, M1 links anyone and anything; anytime, anywhere. For more information, visit www.m1.com.sg.

A leading global university centred in Asia, the National University of Singapore (NS) is Singapore's flagship university which offers a global approach to education and research, with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise.

NUS has 16 faculties and schools across three campuses. Its transformative education includes a broad-based curriculum underscored by multi-disciplinary courses and cross-faculty enrichment. Over 37,000 students from 100 countries enrich the community with their diverse social and cultural perspectives.

NUS has three Research Centres of Excellence (RCE) and 23 university-level research institutes and centres. It is also a partner in Singapore's 5th RCE. NUS shares a close affiliation with 16 national-level research institutes and centres. Research activities are strategic and robust, and NUS is well-known for its research strengths in engineering, life sciences and biomedicine, social sciences and natural sciences. It also strives to create a supportive and innovative environment to promote creative enterprise within its community.www.nus.edu.sg

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