The Ultimate Software Development Competition in Suceava

For eight years, ASSIST Software has been the organizer of one of the most creative and innovative competitions for software developers in Suceava. Great ideas and out-of-the-box implementation plans make up a large part of the Best Innovative Minds competition, where developers get the chance to imagine the future.   

Best Innovative Minds aka BIM  

The main objective of BIM is to advance technology and provide software solutions to the world’s most common problems. Using their expertise, software developers work on projects aimed at helping entire communities or specific demographic groups with issues they encounter in their day-to-day lives. They have two months to finish a demo that will be presented in the Grand Final.  

In 2020, the software project that took home the grand prize was a VR Study Platform proposed as an alternative to the classical approach to education. It aimed to provide an improved version of an e-learning platform centered on user accessibility.   

Award-winning projects at ASSIST Software  

However, the winning project of 2021 - NFTeams -  was more centered on company use and brought the leading team a prize of 1200 euros. The team designed a gamification solution to address the issue of employee disengagement, using NFTs as a reward system. Those interested in the project can read more details about NFTeams’ proposition and action plan on the Best Innovative Minds blog post on the ASSIST Software website.  

Overall, blockchain was the hot subject of the software competition, as the second-place title and the 900-euro award went to the “Democratie de colectie” (translated Collectable Democracy) project. The project used blockchain in a citizen-friendly platform meant to shed light on the work activities of Romanian MPs.  

Third place and a 650-euro prize went to the CopAI project,  which provided a software solution to the worldwide problem of rush hour traffic. The solution involves a Unity simulation of the city where CopAI would be implemented and two types of machine learning systems. One recognizes cars, pedestrians, and other traffic participants, and the other learns about the traffic and makes better decisions daily on how to ease it.  

Special awards and guests  

Three other special awards were handed out at the end of the event. Most Disruptive Technology, a popularity award, and a newly introduced Innovation Lab award went to other teams competing in Best Innovative Minds.   

As per the contest’s requirements, all seven teams featured one student from the Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava. The students were chosen by the team leaders, after a screening process and an interview. Thus, professors from the University of Suceava were invited to help analyze the projects and select the winners based on the demos they saw.   

What’s next?  

ASSIST Software’s competition for programmers will surely be held in 2022 due to the popularity of the event. The sheer creativity of the past participants raised the standards and expectations each year, so Best Innovative Minds will surely be a competition worth keeping your eyes on. Read all about the 2021 edition on our blog.