Malta Internet Foundation prize

The Malta Internet Foundation offers an annual prize for academic work making a significant contribution to internet technologies.

This year the aim is to address technologies which promote universal access to intelligent, socially-oriented web services.

Use of the internet continues to mushroom thanks to the global provision of high-speed data networks, the falling cost of mobile access, the mass appeal of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, and the advent of cloud-computing services such as Google docs.

But intelligent web services remain elusive, even though they promise to herald a new era of web computing. Intelligent web services are those that might adapt dynamically to user needs, manage complex queries by interacting autonomously with other web servers, or solve problems by reasoning with the content of web pages, as suggested by proponents of the Semantic Web.

The 2010 prize will be awarded to students submitting work describing or demonstrating systems that benefit from use of the internet and address a need that is particularly relevant to the Maltese context.

Submissions will also be ranked according to the extent to which they employ advanced technologies to implement intelligent web services, and their potential social impact. They should clearly indicate how the work addresses all of these criteria.

The two categories of submission are a final year project or assessed coursework carrying at least four ECTS credits that is a significant component of a recognised university degree course.

A €600 cash prize will be awarded for the best final year project and a prize of €400 for best assessed coursework.

To take part in the competition students must be reading for a university degree and be residents in Malta.

The closing date for submissions is June 30. The winners will be announced in September and prizes awarded in October.

A copy of the final year project report, or of the coursework, together with any software, as submitted towards the award of degree, should be submitted in softcopy on CD indicating clearly which category of submission is intended, together with the contact details of the student, to the Malta Internet Foundation, c/o IT Services Reception Desk, University Campus, Msida MSD 2080.

For further information view the website www.nic.org.mt.

Any queries may be sent to info@nic.org.mt with subject line '2010 Prize'.