Student Paul’s app design makes competition final

In a bid to progress to the final stages of the competition - in which each year talented students compete to get their iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad apps into the Apple App Store - Queen’s University student Paul Acheson faced competition from 11 fellow ‘AppCampers’.

All pitched their app ideas to a panel of experts including Brendan O’Brien, Consultant Public Health Doctor with the Public Health Agency; Paul McCoy, Investment Manager at Invest NI and Tom Gray, Chief Technology Officer with organisers, Kainos, a technology company with particular expertise in three core markets - healthcare, financial services and public sector.

The students with the most innovative app ideas aimed at healthcare education and improving the lives of sufferers of various conditions, have been selected to return to Kainos for the remainder of the summer to develop and launch their app on the Apple App Store.

Paul’s app, Vacci-Nations, will provide users with a list of recommended vaccinations for each country and other vital health information for travelling abroad. The user can also compile lists of vaccinations that they need and set reminders to book an appointment with their GP or travel clinic.

“My goal,” said Paul, “is to equip the user with all the vaccination information that they need within the app prior to travelling, without having to perform any lengthy internet searches.

“The information will be up to date and relevant, easily accessed and most importantly accurate.”

After six weeks of intensive development and testing the five finalists will release their apps and compete for the chance to be crowned winner of this year’s competition, based on a range of criteria, including number of downloads and reviews.

The apps are expected to be released in September and the winner, who will take away the latest Apple devices, will be announced towards the end of the year.