Toilet search App 'Looglemaps' misses out on a win at CIT APPrentice competition
Aims at improving the health system, streamlining the prescription process and safeguarding your shopping receipts were the big winners at Cork's Institute of Technology APPrentice competition for 2017.
The APPrentice competition, which brought CIT Innovation week to a close, highlighted a number of innovative ideas including an app called 'Looglemaps', whose sole function was to find nearby toilets for users, along with user reviews.
155 APPrentice entries were shortlisted to the top 20 best App ideas by experienced internal judges from CIT. These 20 finalist’s ideas were assessed by a panel of external judges on Innovation Day.
First place in the app competition went to Cork Navy student Derek O'Toole, 27, who is in his second year of a three year course in Electronic Engineering at CIT.
Derek, who followed his older brother into the army in 2012, won the first place price of an iPad with his concept of an app to order home deliveries of medical prescriptions from your local pharmacy.
The bright spark came up with the idea six months ago when he was sent on an errand by his girlfriend to pick up a prescription and he found it took a great deal of time to do such a simple task.
Taking matters into his own hands, the young Navy officer went about researching the prospect of an App that can order drugs, safely and securely, from a local pharmacy and also have them delivered to the door at a time that suits the patient.
Second place went to David Maher, a former student nurse, who noticed the hefty and time-consuming paper trial in hospitals.
David, who is in his first year of web development, decided to create an integrated monitoring system for nurses that would allow them to record a number of vital patient measurements, such as blood pressure, blood sugar and heart rate, electronically.
The data would then be synced with an online system and can notify a manager if a patient's levels rise or fall to dangerous levels.
David was awared a €150 One4all voucher for his efforts.
Third place went to Ellen Cahill, a Business Information Systems student, who created 'Receipt-less' an app that gathers all your purchase information in the one place.
This app is a handy way to hold onto your receipts, without needing to keep a purse full of papers and makes it easy to return faulty or unwanted goods by presenting proof of purchase via the app.
Ellen was presented with a €100 One4all voucher.
Other notable apps from the day was 'Looglemaps' created by Jeremias Pas, a Business and Management student who got the idea for his app from experience.
Stuck in New York city with a full bladder sparked Jeremias' idea for an app that will locate the nearest toilet to you, along with user reviews from people who have frequented the facilities in question.
The app, although unsuccessful in winning the competition, sparked a great deal of debate on the day and seemed to be deemed a worthy download by students, lecturers and judges alike.
