North Dakota Chief Information Officer Shawn Riley, along with military, public and private sector partners, today announced details for the Mobile Application Development Competition being held in concert with the Dakota Strike Career Expo April 8 at the Fargodome. The focus of the mobile app competition is to:
- Enable cyber and business application development career exploration,
- Encourage creative thinking and scientific problem-solving, and
- Promote an entrepreneurial approach to solving public-service related problems.
There are high school and collegiate divisions with cash prizes for the top three finishers. Event sponsors including TechND, state and private industry professionals will be judging the competition. Participation is open to any high school, college or home school students who attend the Dakota Strike event.
“Dakota Strike offers a unique opportunity to connect students with employers in a variety of exciting industries across the military, public and private sectors,” said Riley. “North Dakota’s statewide focus on STEAM education, including computer science and cybersecurity, is helping provide students with valuable 21st century skills and emphasizing our state’s workforce recruitment and retention needs as we continue to grow and diversify our economy.”
The competition seeks to garner unique applications that can be run on Android, Apple/IOS, and Windows platforms. Competing teams will have to submit unique (not reproduced or copied) and original applications, a 30-60 second video detailing the functions of the application and how it can be utilized by the general public.
To keep overall design simple, applications should be single function applications that solve a problem or provide a unique service. To be considered for an award, participants must submit an Intent to Compete no later than 11:59 pm Central Standard Time (CST) on Feb. 28, 2020. Participants will then be emailed instructions on how to submit applications. The application and video must be received by 11:59 pm Central Standard Time (CST) on March 27, 2020.
A Capture the Flag event is also being planned in conjunction with Dakota Strike. Details will be provided in the coming weeks. National partner NICERC – the National Integrated Cyber Education Research Center – is hosting the event. Capture the Flag is a cybersecurity competition designed to test knowledge and teach cyber-related skills.
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C O N T A C T :
Jecca Geffre
Public Information Officer
701.955.0304 • nditpio@nd.gov