"I felt the need to work in a team to change the world"
Désirée García, student of the Master's Degree in Research and Biostatistics, was one of the winners of this year's Imagine Express competition. She was awarded the prize together with the rest of the members of her team in the category of "open theme" for their application in road traffic safety.
09/03/2015
"It is a unique experience I think everyone should have. If you are a creative, restless person, go for it!
How would you value your experience in participating in Imagine Express?
It was very exciting. Not only did I meet a lot of fantastic people, but I also had the chance to learn from their ideas. Plus, I got the "feeling" for three wonderful cities.... in record time, only 5000 minutes!
What will you take with you? What impressed you most about the experience?
The motivation to do things to change the world all together, because even though we were competing in teams, we didn't feel like competitors, we were all working together.
How did you manage to develop an app with so little time and while you travelled by train?
The advice from experts and the mentors on board were of great help to us. For example, during the first part of the trip we worked on "reformulating the problem" to help us focus our efforts on what we really had to do. Or the day we spent in Paris, we all got very little sleep, but our eagerness to work on the project was really very contagious. Those were the moments in which the feeling of working in a team was most present.
What is your app about?
Our idea was to create an educational video game which could be both interesting and fun for kids. So we created the "Zombie driving school", a video game so they could learn about road signs. The purpose of the game is to escape from a group of zombies while following the road signs.
How did you get involved in the HybridPlay project? Tell us about the project.
The HybridPlay project is a way to combine traditional playgrounds with the benefits of the new technologies, and at the same time provide a way for children to learn while they play. HybridPlay just has to be installed in any of the elements of a playground, synchronised with your smartphone and play! For now, as a team we thought about a video game on road traffic safety, but we'd love to make more of them.
Now that the Imagine competition is over will you be continuing with the project?
That's the idea. Both Diego and Marc and I agree that Imagine was only the beginning of the project and we'd really like for HybridPlay and its video games to be launched into the market soon.
What would you say to future candidates to encourage them to participate in the next edition of Imagine?
Imagine is a unique experience which I recommend everyone should have. If you are a creative, restless person who likes working in teams, then go for it!
What support did you receive from UAB Emprèn? What do you think about the efforts made by the university to help young entrepreneurs?
the support form UAB Emprèn was crucial; since the beginning they encouraged me to apply and especially to believe in my projects. Not only with the future "dreamers" of Imagine, but they do that will all the young entrepreneurs. I recommend that everyone interested in developing a project visit UAB Emprèn.