$$News and Reports$$

Jun. 14, 2018

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Above right to left:
Top row: Emi Palmor, Shimon Shmueli, Dana Gavish, Yogev Shamani, Dror Margalit

Bottom row: Team AppOtropus: Amit Turner, Roi Hershkovitz, Rotem Baruch, Shir Milstein (Photo Credit: Noam Sharon)


AppOtropus won the “Students Innovating in the Public Sector 4.0" competition on Wednesday night at the Justice Ministry.  

AppOtropus​ provides a one-stop platform for legal guardians to manage paperwork, day-to-day care of their charges and offers an information database about rights and responsibilities. It was designed in conjunction with the Office of the Administrator General in the Justice Ministry and in collaboration with the staff of the Fighting for Long-Term Care Patients organization. 

Cash prizes of between NIS 1,000 to NIS 5,000 were awarded to every student who made it into the finals. 

The competition, a joint initiative of BGU and Google Israel, was created to improve governmental services online. 

The other competitors included: PharmaSee: An appp that identifies and tracks prescriptions simply by scanning the barcode. Easy Access: Maps accessible entertainment venues – by location and choice of activity. Air-Pal: Enables anyone who fears for their safety to call a drone to shoot video in real time. Trade-Marker: An artificial neural network that compares trademarks. 

The judging committee was comprised of Justice Ministry Dir.-Gen. Emi Palmor, Yogev Shamani, head of the accessible government initiative in the Government ICT Authority, BGU VP and Dir.-Gen. David Bareket, Eldad Kanety, Deputy Dir-.Gen. for Strategy and Policy in the Justice Ministry, Keren Katzir Shtiebel, Government ICT Authority, BGU VP of Entrepreneurship Dana Gavish, and Dror Margalit, Digital Israel. 

David Bareket, VP and Dir.-Gen., BGU: “Entrepreneurship is a central part of the academic enterprise in the Negev. We believe that this initiative with Google will carry on for many years and will boost Israel's economy and society. I want to express my appreciation for all of our partners these past several months." 

Adv. Emi Palmor, Dir.-Gen., Justice Ministry: “The Justice Ministry is proud of this collaboration which promotes innovation in our areas of focus. The connection with Google and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is part of a variety of activities that I am promoting to improve customer service and to develop skills and services in unconventional ways, while promoting an organizational culture that encourages creativity and innovation." 

Shimon Shmueli, head of public policy at Google Israel: “The collaboration with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev was outstanding and the students displayed their creativity and innovative thinking. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity." 

Yogev Shamani, head of the accessible government initiative in the Government ICT Authority: “People in public service want to build a better country. We at the Government ICT Authority, in order to focus on the citizen, give him 485 end-to-end services. However, we understand that we won't be able to create all of the solutions by ourselves. Therefore, a collaboration with academia and a company like Google is very important. This is how we improve the average citizen's quality of living." 

Sagi Langer, BGU's Chief Marketing and Academic Development Officer, and Shimon Shmueli, head of public policy at Google Israel, initiated and led the project. Academic and technological guidance was provided by Prof. Arnon Sturm, Dr. Majeed Kassis and others.