December 9, 2021

The winning team, Wi-Find, developed an easy-to-use solution using inexpensive components that can pick up data from the signals around it.

At the 6th annual Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) Great Minds Hackathon, a team of three JCT students took home first place for their development of advanced software to better locate equipment.

The winning team, Wi-Find, developed an easy-to-use solution using inexpensive components that can pick up data from the signals around it. They developed a way to process the information and map out the exact location of the object. Real-world uses for the technology include places such as hospitals and construction sites  where there is a closed structure and therefore standard GPS cannot be used as it is not accurate enough within buildings.

Two of Wi-Find’s members are international students, Yosef Mizrahi is from Brazil and Ariel Szmerla is from France. The third team member is Amitai Salomon from Israel.

Over 100 Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox male JCT and international students took part in the hackathon, which is run by the LevTech Entrepreneurship Center of JCT.  The center also includes a pre-accelerator program to help students turn their ideas into products and start-ups. The winners were chosen by a panel of nine judges from established Israeli and international companies.

Orlee Guttman, one of the event’s organizers and co-founder of LevTech said all of the student participants demonstrated creativity and effort. 

“They learned new technologies in a matter of hours and then created new products using them. As we’ve seen in past years, their innovation and drive continues after the hackathon as well, as they work to bring these products to market, improve consumer experience and business efficiency, and often help save lives at the same time,” Guttman said.

By: Jerusalem Post Staff

Original Article: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/tracking-device-wins-first-place-at-jcts-student-hackathon-688237