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First round of FICC begins
One of the participants presents her financial software solution in front of the juries while others look on (right). Photo: D.net
Financial IT Case Competition (FICC) is a platform that provides an opportunity to young and talented minds from different public and private universities to compete in the development of unique software projects for the financial sector in the country. The competition, the first of its kind in Bangladesh has been co-organised by D.Net (Development Research Network), Citi Foundation and University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB). The first round kicked off at the ULAB campus on July 11. State Minister for Science and ICT, Architect Yeafesh Osman inaugurated the IT based business solution competition at the conference room of ULAB. Whiel speaking at the ocassion the ICT Minister said the government will take adequate measures to boost creativity of the country's young generation and properly educate them in information and communication technology (ICT). "A creative and ICT educated young generation can change the country's financial landscape, as they will help develop new software and information systems to support the business sector," he said. The state minister also added that the time has come to utilise our local talents to develop world-class business solutions to upgrade the country's status and fulfil the dream of a Digital Bangladesh. He added that there no doubt that this type of competition will create a new trend in the society and at the same time help minimize the gap between industry and academia. "It is indeed a great opportunity for us to host the FICC. We need efficient people for the industry and in this regard this kind of competition will certainly help to produce quality human resource," said Professor Rafiqul Islam, vice chancellor, ULAB. He urged the participants to develop solutions that would help the local businesses and rural development. Ananya Raihan, executive director of D.net, said the competition would help both the students and the industry people, as the students can achieve professional experience and the industry people can head-hunt local talents for their organisations. A total of 54 teams from 20 universities, mainly under graduate students of Business Administration and IT related subjects, are participating in the talent hunt contest. The competing teams require both business and IT expertise to solve any given problem. The contest started with a preliminary screening round followed by semi final and a final round. The jury panel will assess the case solutions based on the project evaluation guidelines during all three rounds. The champion team will be awarded USD 5,000 whereas the first and second runner up will receive USD 2,000 and USD 1,000 respectively.
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