US$100,000 prize for smart search engine

LatecomerX SG

SINGAPORE: If you have an idea for the next YouTube or Facebook, you could win US$100,000.

That's the top prize in "The Star Challenge" competition to select winning ideas on how to develop technologies for a search engine that is smart enough to find content.

The task is to create technologies to help users navigate and identify material such as text, audio and video containing any word, even if that word has not been tagged by creators or users.

The worldwide competition is being run by A*STAR as part of the official opening of the Fusionopolis later this year.

The top five teams with the best search results will be identified and brought to Singapore for the finals in October.

To find out more about the competition, you can log on to the website www.thestarchallenge.sg.

Anyone interested? Mr. Green

manyu882 SG

... must work as a team.. siani dun want liao lol

ndmmxiaomayi SG

I suck at programming. Sad

The-Doc SG

Late, I’m interested, drop me a private message and we can see how it goes from there?

4getmenot SG

er... if they do submit the winning formula, will it remain a propritory of Astar?? if it does, US100k is kinda a very small sum, knowing what software companies would actually offer .... Rolling Eyes

LatecomerX SG

I'm not that keen on participating in this competition actually. One reason would be what 4getmenot has mentioned - the rights of the project. I have checked their T&C and they didn't explicitly state who will own the rights upon project submission. Besides, I'm currently bogged down with work and personal projects, so I guess I will not be able to lend you a hand right now. Neutral

The-Doc SG

I guess I'll be working on it but definately, not for this competition. Why should I develop a technology which has the potential to earn me mega bucks and sell it to them for 140k SGD? It's a great way of making smarter people work for you for a cheap amount of money.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

56K dial-up as part of the resources.

Holy crap. You expect to stream videos on that?

A*STAR expressly disclaims any implied warranty, condition, or representation in relation to any intellectual property created by the participant in the course of its participation in the competition. In no event shall A*STAR be liable to any party for any loss or damage arising from the participants participation in the competition.

Err... I kinda feel this is a trap. If they buy you over (assuming you won), your property = theirs.

If create for fun, I don't mind. LOL

Hocklez SG

google and yahoo already donno how many billions.

you can say some of them like facebook started off with little financial support but paying only 100k to get one better than them? ai pi ai qi...

pay 100k to find cure of aids la...

4getmenot SG

dun they have enough 'talents' in their Astar?? it bugs me to wonder why they make it an international affair..? Any script kiddie would know their 'unique' search engine algothrim is well worth more than a measely 100k. Laughing

Shotgun SG

So typical lar. Want to pay peanuts, they'll get monkeys.

CoolMyth SG

100K nia....I scoff at the amount they offer.

If you can really create such a stuff, you can earn billions and instigate a bidding war between Microsoft, Yahoo and Google...

Just look at Facebook. Laughing

ndmmxiaomayi SG

MS paid A LOT for Facebook. Not just MS, Google too.

As I've said, if done for fun, I don't mind. If A* commercialize it and the winner is only paid 100K, then it's not worth it. Unless the winner doesn't mind it as well. Laughing

sLeEpWaLkErInG SG

if u can do something like that, might as well sell to the ang mo.. i think sure more than US100,000