p2pnet - rss feed: Canada’s VeloCity — innovator boot-camp
p2pnet new Cool Stuff:- | P2P:- VeloCity is no ordinary student residence, says the web page.
"It’s a place where some of UW’s most talented, entrepreneurial, creative and technologically savvy students will be united under one roof to work on the future of mobile communications, web and new media.
"It’s a place where students, faculty and corporate partners will be active collaborators and beneficiaries of the talent, ideas and innovations that evolve."
UW is Canada’s University of Waterloo and it was mooted by Sean Van Koughnett, who manages the university’s Media & Mobility Network Project.
"While working on more long-term implementations like a campus-wide IP telephony system, Van Koughnett wanted a project that would further digital media on campus but with more immediate results," says PC World.
"He figured that many students were already working on mobile and Web applications on their own time, so why not bring them together? Said Van Koughnett: ‘We don’t know if something will come out of one of these teams, but having a place where everyone can help work on it might help it to happen’."
To get into the VeloCity, UW students (they’re the only ones who’ll be considered) need to answer in-depth questionsdesigned to assess their technical and entrepreneurial savvy, "and undergo a lengthy interview" says the story, adding:
"The program has already received around 75 applications, with 55 offers extended and 40 accepted so far. Van Koughnett anticipates that the program will be full for its very first term starting in September.
VeloCity will be co-ed and has so far received about 30 per cent female applicants, according to fourth-year software engineering student and co-founder of student entrepreneurship group Impact Gaurav Jain, who has been involved with getting the project off the ground, says PC World.
"He sees it as a valuable way to collaborate on the most cutting-edge projects. ‘Classwork is all about the fundamentals, but the information is often four years old, so when it comes to your pet projects you can work on the newest stuff like AJAX and PHP,’ said Jain. ‘And with pet projects, you usually don’t have any structure, mentoring, and no help, and they never turn into a start-up…but here you can do something different and actually start a company–do something innovative’."
But, "It’s not just the techies who’ve been angling for a spot in Velocity," says the story, adding:
"Students from all sorts of backgrounds have been applying (in addition to computer science and engineering students), like from arts, environmental studies, mechanical engineering, sciences, and business," Jain said.
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Also See:
PC World - Canadian University Puts IT Whiz Kids in ‘Dormcubator’, February 27, 2008
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