OSU AppCenter launches app development competition

Monday, February 4, 2013

The new AppCenter at Oklahoma State University is inviting teams of students, faculty, staff and alumni to showcase their creativity by participating in its first-ever app development competition.  Sponsored by AAA, participants will compete for over $20,000 in cash awards. 

“We are excited to be partnering with OSU in development of the AppCenter,” said Neal Krueger, president and CEO of AAA Oklahoma.  “The potential for innovation through mobile apps is limitless and the AppCenterwill be of great value to OSU students, faculty, businesses, and ultimately our AAA members.”

“This competition will foster new concepts and creative app ideas across Oklahoma State University’s community,” said Steve Wood, CEO of Cowboy Technologies, a for-profit, limited-liability company with a mission to be a catalyst for commercializing university inventions. “Through the OSU AppCenter, the competition supports the screening, refining, resource funding, and app development needed to launch viable app ideas into practice.”

The OSU AppCenter provides a space where students can transition their app ideas into functioning web and mobile applications. The space connects students, allowing them to collaborate in the app development process. The AppCenter will open mid-February on the OSU-Stillwater campus in the lobby of the Henry Bellmon Research Center (HBRC) along with a support facility at OrangeTech in the Student Union University Store. The AppCenter will house all the necessary equipment and programs to facilitate this process; these resources will be offered free to students. The space also allows students to connect to corporate sponsors and businesses needing apps. The OSU AppCenter will provide a forum that is not widely available for application development.

“There is a need at campuses and communities across the nation of parties who either need someone to develop an app for them or want to develop their own,” said Paige Nixon, AAA’s marketing programs coordinator. “AAA Oklahoma is extremely excited to be associated with the OSU AppCenter and this competition. We are working with a very gifted and diverse OSU AppCenter team and are confident they have created something sustainable and more important, that can be replicated across multiple markets.”

The focus of the first competition is "INFORMATION SHARING AT OSU". The goal is to create an app focused on college life that students would find valuable and use often. The app should be related to one of AAA’s business lines and can fall into one of the following categories: travel, transportation, safety and security, insurance, finance, or cowboy experience. Teams will be judged based on the innovation, presentation and impact of the app.

The competition is divided into two phases. The first phase is open to individuals with an appidea in the categories mentioned above. The second phase will be open to individuals with app development skills. Teams in the second phase will develop the app based on the winning idea from the first phase. Winners of the first phase are not eligible to compete in the second phase. The winners of the first phase must also be willing to judge the second phase of the competition.

The first phase of the competition began Jan. 31. 

For more information on the OSU AppCenter, including instructions on how to register for the competition, visit http://www.osuappcenter.com.