Innovation festival

Financial support:

• company-named scholarship or award (souvenir, etc.);
• co-financing of the scholarship fund of the student project competition;
• supporting the organization of the IT Innovation Festival.

The student project competition provides an excellent opportunity for direct contact with outstanding student project authors. In the context of student project competition, the company will receive the best public output through scholarship or award-based support.

The company's contribution can also be made to support the organization of the IT Innovation Festival, we are open to various forms of cooperation.

Supporters of the IT Innovation Festival will be mentioned in the communication supporting the event, both within the university and in marketing campaigns aimed at the general public.

Other forms of cooperation:

• participation in the work of the evaluation committee of the student project competition;
• event communication support;
• public participation in both the student competition and the IT Innovation Festival.

We are open to various cooperation proposals in addition to the above. If you have any further questions or suggestions, please contact Kristiina Ranne, phone: 53305289, kristiina.ranne@taltech.ee.

All students and student groups of TalTech School of Information Technologies who have defended their dissertation or completed a teamwork project during the 2021/2022 academic year, can take part of the contest. The project submitted to the competition must be publicly presentable.

Exceptionally, students of other Schools may also participate in the competition if their project is (co)supervised by an employee of the School of Information Technologies.

Theses compete in the following categories:
•    Bachelor’s level: software, hardware and systems;
•    Master’s level: software, hardware and systems, information society.

Competition categories for teamwork projects: bachelor’s level, master’s level.

Contest category descriptions for theses:

Software Description: Theses which focus on software. On the one hand, development, implementation or adaptation of software for a specific task, and on the other hand, software design, business process analysis or database design with a view to solve the problems set. Keywords: databases, data mining, strategic analysis, management, development and protection of information systems, intelligent systems, software applications and the user interface, multimedia, software architecture, design and dynamics, software engineering, software processes and quality, security and privacy in a networked world, web services and web mining, the Internet of Things, big data, open data and linked data, e-governance, analysis and development of the enterprise information system’s architecture. The list is illustrative, not exhaustive!

Hardware and systems Description: Theses which focus on design, analysis and use of electronic systems, computers and computer based systems, and their components. Systems may be either distributed or compact ones but focus should be on the implementation of hardware or system where (embedded) software can be one of the components. Keywords: signal-processing, digital systems, digital electronics, analog electronics, hardware close programming, reconfigurable systems, verification and testing, control systems, process control, sensorics, artificial neural nets and their applications, electronic design, microelectronics, automation tools. The list is illustrative, not exhaustive!

Information society Description: Theses which do not focus on developing a software or hardware based solution (or it is a small proportion of the thesis), but analyze the set problem from an organizational or a social- theoretical perspective. Keywords: strategic analysis, management and development of information system, security of information systems, cyber security, digital expertise, encryption, security and privacy in a networked world, intelligent systems, e-governance and e-governance methodologies, enterprise information system’s architecture. The list is illustrative, not exhaustive!

The competition is held in two stages.

I stage, pre-stage:

• The pre-evaluation committee will review the submitted student projects.
• The committee will choose up to 35 student projects from the entries to advance to the final stage.
• If the committee finds that the subject of the student project does not fit into the chosen category, the committee has the right to relocate it in the appropriate category.
• If the student has qualified (or not qualified) to the next stage, he or she will be informed via e-mail no later than June 9th 2022.

II stage, final stage:

• Will be held on 14th of June 2022.
• Presentations to the evaluation committees will take place in MS Teams.
• The presentation is up to 10 minutes long. The presentation gives an overview of the following aspects: the aim of the project, the reasoning behind the choice of the topic (actuality), incl. including usefulness for different target groups, results/conclusions/ suggestions of the work done, demo of the project created, if any.
• The presentation will be followed by a 5-10-minute question and answer round from the committee and the audience.
• The results will be announced at the IT Innovation Festival on 15 June 2022 and on the university website.

The pre-stage committee is composed of representatives of School of IT programmes. In the final stage, the committee consists of at least 5 members and in addition to university representatives, specialty experts from companies may also be included. Committee decisions are taken on the basis of a discussion. All decisions accepted by the committee cannot be appealed in neither of the stages.

The student papers submitted to the competition will be evaluated based on the following key points:

• establishment and comprehensibility of the assignment(s),
• technical realization of the solution, its accuracy and complexity,
• originality, novelty, and usefulness for target groups,
• presentation skills.

Composition of evaluating committees:

Software category
Gert Kanter, Lecturer at the Department of Software Science, chairman of the committee;
Rivo Lemmik, Columbus Eesti AS Business Solutions Architect, Lecturer at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering;
Jekaterina Tšukrejeva, Study Assistant at the Department of Software Science;
Aleksei Talisainen, Lecturer at the IT College;
Priit Matiisen, Scoro Software OÜ Senior Software Engineer;
Aivar Avalo, Eesti Energia AS Head of IT Strategy and Architecture;
Lehar Oha, Swedbank AS Principal Data Scientist.

Hardware and systems category
Eduard Petlenkov, Professor at the Department of Computer Systems, chairman of the committee;
Kristina Vassiljeva, Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Systems;
Paul Annus, Senior Research Scientist at the Thomas Johann Seebeck Department of Electronics;
Arno Kolk, CEO of the Estonian Electronics Industries Association;
Innokenti Sobolev, Reconext OÜ Software Manager R&D.

Information society category
Regina Erlenheim, Lecturer at the Department of Software Science, chairman of the committee;
Kaie Maennel, Researcher at the Department of Software Science;
Kristian Juha Ismo Kankainen, Early Stage Researcher at the Department of Health Technologies;
Maie Ristissaar, Head of Department at the IT and Development Centre at the Estonian Ministry of the Interior;
Kristjan-Hans Sillmann, Telia Eesti AS Agile Coach.

Teamwork projects category
Priit Ruberg, Researcher at the Department of Computer Systems, chairman of the committee;
Mairo Leier, Senior Researcher at the Department of Computer Systems;
Kristjan Pilt, Senior Researcher at the Department of Health Technologies;
Siim Talts, Scoro Software OÜ Senior Software Engineer;
Andrus Tamm, SEB Pank AS Head of Common Functions, Product Development and Technology.

A winner for each category will be chosen from the presented student projects in the final stage. In addition, the evaluating committee has a right to give out a special prize in each category. The committee also has a right to not give out the special prize with a valid justification.

• Student project competition scholarship fund is 5600€.
• Each category winner is awarded with a scholarship of 500€, the special prize is 300€.
• In addition to the overall scholarship fund, there are additional company-named scholarships. In case of the additional scholarships from entrepreneurs, the decision is made by the funder of the scholarship or by their authorized representative. The company has a right to not give out the scholarship with a valid justification.

To apply, a formal application must be submitted with the required documents:
•    the dissertation or teamwork project report, giving a sufficiently detailed overview of the work(s) done;
•    a summary of the dissertation or teamwork project (up to 1 page);
•    documents must be in pdf format.

Apply for the student project competition
 

A recommendation to participate in the student project competition may also be given by the dissertation defence committee, the supervisor or another person related to the student project. In this case, the student or team of students will be notified of the proposal and the student or group of students will confirm their wish to participate by applying.

Important dates:

• June 5th - deadline for submission of student projects (deadline extended);
• No later than June 9th - organizers announce who has qualified (or not qualified) to the final stage;
• June 14 - final round of the student project competition, presentations to the evaluation committees in MS Teams;
• June 15 - IT Innovation Festival, announcement of the winners of the student project competition at the Innovation Centre Mektory.