The competition, promoted by the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center awarded the innovative “belt for blind people”.
The Italian team made of 4 students of the University of Trento won the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Challenge Trophy during the Global Student Business Concept Challenge. The team was formed by: Julia Wache, Galena Kostoska, Alberto Parrella, Leonardo Stenico and Roman Chirikov of the feelSpace Team.
The five young students were called upon representing Italy in the renowned competition in Virginia, which was held between 17 and 23 August.
The project was able to beat the proposals submitted by the teams from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Egypt, England, France, Mexico and the US home team.
The team of PhDs and students in Management and Finance of the University of Trento submitted a tool, developed in cooperation with the University of Osnabrück, which is potentially revolutionary for blind and partially sighted people, capable to facilitate their mobility and enhance their autonomy.
The feelSpace belt is a navigation device that has vibrating units around the waist, guiding the blind or partially sighted user towards a specific destination. Thanks to a GPS installed on the belt, the unit provides the user with spatial orientation, with the further advantage that the user have free hands and ears.
The prize was delivered during the awarding ceremony held in Roanoke, Virginia. The important award was accompanied by a 25,000 USD cheque: an excellent conclusion for the training week of the young students. Over the week they had the opportunity to get acquainted with some important local technology companies and get the feeling of the local lifestyle, since they were hosted in host families.