OneService Innovation Challenge 2018 — Hacking by the Community, for the Community
From 31 August to 2 September, the OneService Innovation Challenge 2018 organised by the Municipal Services Office (MSO) saw members of the public come together to make our neighbourhoods a better place to live, work, and play, by building micro-services for the new OneService App.
Prior to the Challenge, a series of workshops were held to help participants with their idea development process, giving them a chance to hear from the experts and find out more about the technologies that can be used at the Challenge. This included a Content Workshop (23 August), a OneMap Workshop hosted by SLA (27 August), and a Tech Workshop (28 August).
At the Challenge, participants addressed the following problem statements:
Refresh and Transform the OS App: How can we use the OneService App as part of a one-stop community platform consisting of OneService digital products to build a well-informed and engaged community, promote neighbourliness and civic-mindedness among residents, and enhance your neighbourhood?
Provide Smarter Services: How can we offer intuitive and predictive services so that we are better prepared to address residents’ needs?
29 amazing teams with diverse backgrounds and skill sets took part in the three-day Challenge where they prototyped ideas that would give the OneService App a brand new experience and meet municipal needs of residents across Singapore.
Driven by the desire to make a difference, participants worked hard over the weekend as they went through design sprints, mentor consultations, and presentation clinics where they developed their ideas.
We are pleased to feature the top three winning teams and their solutions for the community!
Team TBG — The Young Family
Always bringing in new and innovative ideas to the table, this young family is no stranger to UP Singapore events. Team TBG comprises of Jeffrey Lau and Gloria Er, along with their children who also take part in the ideation and pitching process!
With the topic close to heart, they decided to join the challenge as a family.
“The OneService app is something that we all use quite often, and when you see the different questions or the different problems that other people face within your community, they’re actually very similar to yours. So we felt that it was important for us to see how we can further improve this, to bring the app from something that is already very good to something that’s really great,” Jeffrey said.
The team took home the top prize with their solution which enhances the OneService feedback channel, using 3D visualisation. The panoramic video feature identifies geographical locations in order to accurately resolve reported problems.
For them, the challenge was the perfect opportunity to spend quality time and also build solutions for the community!
Binpoint — The Green Undergraduates
Team Binpoint took up the challenge to use the OneService app as a platform for the community to be more environmentally conscious.
The team consisted of three undergraduate students from SIM Global Education, London School of Economics, and United World College of South East Asia, and a research engineer from DSO National Labs, who only met each other and formed their dream team at Day 1 of the Challenge.
Together, they developed a map that keeps track of recycling bins in each neighbourhood across the country. Using location-based technology, citizens can find the nearest recycling bins and even report locations that do not have any.
It was an enriching experience for the team as they learnt how to work together and leverage on each member’s diverse set of skills.
“We came into this challenge thinking that I’d be programming 24/7 and coding, but in fact that was not the case at all. We expanded on our skills and abilities and as a group I think we did a really really good job.”
SWAP — The Mother-Son Duo
Finally, a mother and son pair came up with SWAP, a matching marketplace that connects caregivers with a caring community of volunteers who offer non-professional daily assistance services to help relieve caregivers of their duties.
As the solution banks on crowdsourcing residents in the neighbourhood to help out those in need, the 14-year-old participant inspired many to promote a culture of care and inclusivity in our communities. You’re never too young to start!
Our top three winning teams were just a few of the many who came up with amazing ideas that will make our neighbourhoods a better place to live for everyone. From the “Call for Ideas” competition alone, we received more than 200 ideas that aimed to improve the OneService channels!
It was very inspiring to see participants putting in their best effort to contribute to the larger community! We would like to thank all our partners, experts and of course, you talented and passionate people for being part of this challenge.
We are always pleased to have people from all walks of life come together to innovate for Singapore’s future and we hope you had fun as much as we did! Look forward to more upcoming events!
Cheers, Reyna
UP Singapore Team