12 teams set to do battle in Grand Finale

Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT), the pioneer in British higher education in Sri Lanka and the country’s premier IT and Business campus, has commenced CodeSprint 4.0, the fourth edition of the annual event that fuels the entrepreneurial spirit of undergraduates in Sri Lanka. Building on the success of CodeSprint 3.0 held last year, the IEEE Student Branch of Informatics Institute of Technology announced CodeSprint 4.0 to a providean enriching experience for undergraduates by offering a much-needed launch pad for their entrepreneurial endeavors.

Powered by Dialog Ideamart, this year’s competition continued the concept of a battle among university teams to come up with the most promising startup idea where pitching to a panel of experts and interactive workshops play a key role in the journey of each team. CodeSprint 4.0 accepted entries from two categories. The first category was for teams comprised of students enrolled at IIT while the second was for university teams from other state and private universities across Sri Lanka.

All teams, comprised of 3 to 6 students, were given 5 minutes to pitch their initial idea to a panel of experts. After careful evaluation, the panel trimmed down the number of teams to 10 teams from each category. The 20 teams will be given the chance to participate in two technical workshops and a business workshop in order to finetune their ideas and prepare them for the final pitch. Domain-specific mentors will also be assigned to all teams during the workshops to help them obtain in-depth information that would enhance their ideas and maximize chances of success. 

Subsequently, during the Business Evaluation stage, the 20 teams will be required to perform a pitch and participate in a Q&A session, which will help the panel of judges select the final 12 teams – 6 IIT teams and 6 non-IIT teams – to progress into the Grand Finale. On the day of the Grand Finale, each of the 12 teams will be given a chance to exhibit their product and pitch their respective ideas to a panel of judges, prospective investors and a large audience. Winners will be presented with cash prizes that will help them further their winning ideas while various consolation prizes will also be on offer.

Expressing her views on CodeSprint 4.0, Naomi Krishnarajah – Dean of IIT stated, “As the premier Inter-University event in Sri Lanka, CodeSprint has always been a looked forward to the event in the IIT calendar. This year’s CodeSprint is building on the success of CodeSprint 3.0, which focused on fostering innovative thinking and entrepreneurial spirit among the teams through an exciting and educational start-up battle. Our students worked tirelessly with the help of the IIT staff to ensure that every aspect of the event was well organized and methodically handled.

I am sure the event will be a great success as it unfolds over the coming weeks.” IIT was established in 1990 as the first private higher education institute that awards reputed British degrees in the field of ICT and Business. IIT is an award-winning campus offering internal postgraduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Westminster, UK and Robert Gordon University, UK. IIT has played a pivotal role in strengthening the IT and Business sectors in Sri Lanka over the years by producing world-class graduates. These graduates have gone on to become successful entrepreneurs and IT/Business professionals in both local and international corporate and government entities. Since its inception, IIT has produced thousands of graduates who have excelled in hundreds of organizations around the globe.