On Tuesday 1^st October a team of app design pupils from Banbridge Academy, “VisionAI”, made their way to Belfast for the final of the Digital Futures App Design Competition 2024.  The Year 10 team had already progressed through the school internal selection process and the competition semi-final held in May, hosted by PwC at their offices in Belfast.  The VisionAI app was inspired by a desire to improve the lives of those with dementia, and those with failing sight by utilising Artificial Intelligence to identify objects and read text.  After successfully pitching their app, and showcasing their prototype, the team made it into the top 6 – giving them the opportunity to present once again; but this time in front of an audience of friends, family, and industry professionals.  Despite continuing to evolve from the core functionality of the semi-final offering into a holistic wellbeing app, the team’s expertise and enthusiasm weren’t able to convince the judging panel that their idea could outperform those of the other finalists on this occasion.  The Year 10 VisionAI team have shown dedication and expertise beyond their years throughout this process and their performance at the final was exceptional.

The team consisted of Isabella Donnelly (Project Manager & Lead Creative Visionary), Elijah Heanan (Lead Software Developer), Joseph Brown (AI Specialist) and Maeve Alway (Script Sculptor) with thanks also going to Laura Soutar from PwC who helped mentor VisionAI this process.