A start-up co-developed by EECS students that helps travellers use spare baggage capacity on flights for small charities won the 24-hour Sabre Destination Hack hackathon held in London at the weekend.
Travita was created by a team of four including three 19-year-old first year students - Sameen Islam, Kristina Semenyuk and Jaykumar Pradeep Rawal. They collected £10,000 as the winners of the Grand Prize at the 24-hour Sabre Destination Hack hackathon.
The team beat competition which ranged from other students to major global brands, with 39 teams taking part, including some from the Middle East, the US and Bolivia.
The event, hosted by Sabre’s Dev Studio challenged teams to design new technology or apps that have the capability of reinventing global travel.
The app, which connects business travellers that have spare baggage capacity with small charities in need around the world, was described by Greg Webb, one of five judges and president at Sabre Travel Network: “We chose Travita as our overall winner because it displayed the most unique use of technology that can provide a new way for frequent travellers to give back to the community.
“It’s something we’ve never seen before and something we believe will go a long way.”
The win was featured in travel industry news including Travolution and ITCM yesterday.