San Francisco State University College of Business student teams won awards in competitions sponsored by the Silicone Valley software company SAP. During class visits to the company, PG&E SAP IT experts Larry Cantieri and John Oliver mentored Building Mobile Business Applications fall semester students to better understand the utility business and data usage. Their class presentation inspired the students to develop innovative mobile apps and participate in the Utility of Tomorrow contest and the Global Connected Car contest.
A team led by Wayman Duong proposed a My Water Usage Management Mobile App which won the top prize in the Sustainable Resources category of the 2013 Utility of Tomorrow contest. As a result, the team is invited to attend a week-long workshop at the SAP labs in Palo Alto. As participants in the workshop, the team will have to opportunity to collaborate with other winning teams, experts from SAP and sponsors from the utility industry, in order to build prototypes of the winning proposals.
Two other student proposals from the fall Building Mobile Business Applications class won runner-up recognition in the Global Connected Car contest. Brianto Hanito proposed a an AutoX app that would provide smart management of car maintenance and diagnoses, while the Bringing Personalized Mobility to In-Vehicle Communication app, proposed by Afsheen Agahi, would provide real-time notifications of roadside attractions and points of interests geared towards the user’s specific interests.