Among the winners of the University of Sydney Business School’s Sydney Genesis final pitch night is an inexpensive and scalable exam laptop that deters hacking and cheating.
According to a recent report, the idea for the start-up came during the last five minutes of a three-hour open book exam. The Aaro founder found herself transcribing the typed-up exam notes into the exam book.
It is no secret that the handwriting of students is declining, as research has shown. In the same way, teachers are already getting tired of trying to decipher poor handwriting when marking exams.
Aaro is an inexpensive and scalable solution to this problem. It is a non-programmable exam laptop that specifically deters hacking and addresses the growing need for secure cloud-based exams.
In an age where some kids are texting faster than they can write, the schools could really benefit from secure cloud exams.
The proposal is a very inexpensive hardware solution. The laptop would have very limited memory, which means it only has space for the exam program itself.
The Sydney Genesis program develops the next generation of entrepreneurs who are solving real-world problems with their business innovations.
The program began in 2008 and has had 1,000 entrepreneurs through the program already.
This has created a rich ecosystem of entrepreneurship at the University. In addition to the seed funding, the winners will be fast-tracked through to the INCUBATE program and receive support from the Innovation Hub at the University.
Located in the Discipline of Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the program is unique in bringing world-leading researchers and budding entrepreneurs together.
This program is open to students, staff and alumni from any faculty across the University since it is not just Business School students who have great ideas for start-ups.
One of the winners of the top prizes in last semester’s pitch night, for instance, studied design at the University.
PetiteBeat is a bonding device that consists of a foetal heart beat detector and a pillow, which amplifies the heartbeat during pregnancy through light, sound and pulse.
They did not have a business background so they needed the entrepreneurial skills to get their start-up off the ground.
Other winners during the Sydney Genesis final pitch night include Coinflow, Wasta, and Biotechion.
Coinflow is an automated accounting platform that helps business owners spend less than an hour a month doing their own accounting.
Wasta is a digitised blockchain ‘token’ audit trail, which tracks the movement of funds between intermediaries to ensure that grants and financial aid end up in the right hands.
Biotechion is a portable testing kit to test viruses and bacteria in livestock and agriculture using a new DNA/RNA technology called recombinase polymerase amplification.
