Nanyang Polytechnic students created parking app in 2013, but were allegedly told by authorities that the idea was not feasible

[SGMCF328]

Not the first time similar news (ideas or patent been used by agency) has surfaced on the web. The last was a case with Mindef, for a first-aid vehicle, if my memory don't fails me.

About the parking app, without looking at the photo, PP Coupon may have a different meaning to some, especially when Josephine Teo comes into the picture. 😁

Source: https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2023/02/20/nanyang-polytechnic-students-created-parking-app-in-2013-but-were-allegedly-told-by-authorities-that-the-idea-was-not-feasible/

In a recent development, it has been revealed via a tip-off from a member of the public that a team of students from Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) were the first to come up with a parking app in Singapore back in 2013, way before students from Temasek Polytechnic claimed the title in 2016, as reported in a 2019 TOC report.

The team of third-year students from NYP utilized data provided by government agencies to create the parking app, called “PP-Coupon”. The app aimed to replace traditional paper-based coupons, which were seen as a hassle for users and wasteful in terms of paper usage.

Lim Sheng Han, a team member of the NYP project, said to the media in 2013, “Purchasing a coupon and calculating the likely time of parking has always been a hassle. Furthermore, we use a lot of paper when tearing up the coupons. We hope that this app can help to save such wastage.”

With their parking app, the team won second place in the student categories at the inaugural PlugFest International Programming Competition in February 2013 and received praise from Mrs Josephine Teo, who was then Minister of State for the Ministry of Transport.

Mrs Teo said during the awards presentation, “We don’t want to have to worry about the time limit of our parking coupons during our visits to our families and be unable to enjoy the time with them.”

In the same month, the team also won second place at Isobar Create, the first Near Field Communication (NFC)-themed 32-hour hackathon.

Similar to the current app “Parking.sg” that Singapore uses, the app by the NYP students also uses Global-Positioning-System for positioning. The NFC sticker on the car is meant to identify the parked vehicle in the system, while the current app just allows the user to type in the vehicle number — a difference that could be tweaked easily.

The team shared that they pitched the app to the Urban Development Board (URA) and Housing Development Board (HDB) and was later visited by URA at the polytechnic in February 2013.

However, after a presentation to the visiting officials, they were informed that the idea would no longer be valid as Singapore was set to roll out a new ERP system that would eliminate coupon payments for parking. The NYP team did not continue with the project, as it required the support of authorities to launch and kick-off.

A few years later, in his National Day Rally speech, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the launch of a new mobile app that would change how people pay for parking in Singapore. The app was developed by a team at GovTech, and it allowed users to pay for parking via their mobile phones, eliminating the need for physical coupons. The app was created with the support of the Ministry of National Development (MND), URA, and HDB – the same agencies that had earlier told the NYP students that their project was not feasible.

When TOC managed to contact one of the team members, he said, “Initially, in 2013, when they told us abt ERP 2.0, we accepted the fact as since there is a new system coming up soon to replace and change the existing system.

“But when I saw the news abt Parking.SG – I was very indignant as I started to question why didn’t URA tell them about the ERP 2.0.?”

“Where is ERP 2.0 that was informed by URA that is abt to phase in? And why is the app so similar to ours?” questioned the team member.

TOC has written to MND for its comments and will include them when they respond.

[RadX]

Yup! This was

theorized somewhere where they downplay it and after a few years conjure the concept AGAIN and stake claim to it

Think Prince also staked claim that it was his… hogwash I say

shameless!!

[SGMCF328]

Another article, another claim. What puzzled me was Li Hongyi claims that they started brainstorming for this app way back in 2013, the same year the NYP students presented their PP Coupon parking app??

Source: https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2019/04/02/while-li-hongyi-is-praised-for-parking-sg-app-five-tp-students-were-actually-the-first-to-introduce-such-an-app-as-their-final-year-project-eparking/

In his 2016 National Day Rally speech, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the launch of a new mobile app that would change how people would pay for parking in Singapore. The app, called Parking.sg, introduced a novel way for motorists to make cashless payments for their parking sessions via a mobile app on their smartphone, a convenient alternative to traditional parking coupons.

The Parking.sg app was developed by a team at GovTech led by PM Lee’s son, Li Hongyi. They created the app with the support of the Ministry of National Development (MND), the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Housing and Development Board (HDB).

According to presentations delivered by Li Hongyi himself at various conferences and events, the app took 4 years to complete, from rough ideas to the actual end product that is in use today. The app, once launched, has received high praise for how it has improved the day to day lives of motorists in Singapore.

One point we’d like to note here is that around the 4:48 mark in the video, Li Hongyi mentioned that they started brainstorming for this app way back in 2013. Now, GovTech – where Li Honyi is a deputy Director (Data Science & Artificial Intelligence Division) – was only established in 2016. So who did Parking.sg belong to when it was first conceptualized in 2013?

In fact, it is significantly more than what a group of five Temasek Polytechnic (TP) students used when they developed their own parking app back in 2016 as part of their final year project.

This group of students from TP’s Business Information Technology course developed a simple Android application called eParking which allows drivers to select the location, period of time and load funds to fulfil a parking session. According to the press release, the app also provides push notification updates “as to when time is running out and with a quick reload, the user can extend the coupon time from wherever he may be”.

The statement continued, “In addition to being environmentally-friendly, the service will also allow convenient summons management, be it issuance or payment. It aims to also ease the workload of Parking Enforcement Officers with the use of QR-code scanning.”

Back then, Straits Times featured this new student-made app which, while it was innovative and creative, seemed like just another school project.

However, when compared to the Parking.sg app, it’s clear that these TP students back in 2016 had already developed a fully functioning application in eParking. The functions they provided were rather comprehensive and comparable to that in the app launched by Li Hongyi.

Here’s another startling fact. In terms of cost, one of the students involved in the eParking project told us that they didn’t spend a single cent on in developing the app as they used software which was open source. Also, the server was provided for by the school. Which means these students made a complete application with absolutely zero funding that works pretty much the same as the S$1.96 million-dollar app by GovTech.

With all the praise the Li Hongyi has received for Parking.sg, should we not be also looking at these talented, aspiring technopreneurs?

[kobayashiGT]

hahaha. Don't solve the parking problem, solve the housing problem lah. How can i afford to buy a house in the coming future. hahahah 

[inlinesix]

1 minute ago, kobayashiGT said:

hahaha. Don't solve the parking problem, solve the housing problem lah. How can i afford to buy a house in the coming future. hahahah 

Find a rich wife.

😜

[Jamesc]

How to encourage innovation when people never get rewarded for it.

I also got an app to collect more COE but I won't show to them.

In case they say not feasible and then suddenly its implemented.

Then we all have to pay more COE and I don't get any copy rights.

I am sure we all don't want to see that right?

Who wants to see that?

[kobayashiGT]

4 minutes ago, inlinesix said:

Find a rich wife.

😜

I know kim, but kim dunno me leh. hahaha 

[Jamesc]

What happened to Kim Lin?

VD day makan already then throw away like used tissue huh?

Aiyah why so heartless one?

With her you will have no housing problem.

10 minutes ago, kobayashiGT said:

hahaha. Don't solve the parking problem, solve the housing problem lah. How can i afford to buy a house in the coming future. hahahah 

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by Jamesc

[Jamesc]

To bad I not housing developer so I don't know how to solve the housing problem.

I am a car dealer and only know how to make COE go up.

[SGMCF328]

5 minutes ago, Jamesc said:

How to encourage innovation when people never get rewarded for it.

I also got an app to collect more COE but I won't show to them.

In case they say not feasible and then suddenly its implemented.

Then we all have to pay more COE and I don't get any copy rights.

I am sure we all don't want to see that right?

Who wants to see that?

Before LTA come to you, @BanCoe will silent you first. 😄

[13177]

5 minutes ago, kobayashiGT said:

hahaha. Don't solve the parking problem, solve the housing problem lah. How can i afford to buy a house in the coming future. hahahah 

 

3 minutes ago, inlinesix said:

Find a rich wife.

😜

If you are eligible to buy liao, faster go and buy now before the property price become even more crazy and ridiculous. 

Or go 嫁个有钱人. I mean 娶个有钱人. 🤣

[Inlinefour]

34 minutes ago, kobayashiGT said:

hahaha. Don't solve the parking problem, solve the housing problem lah. How can i afford to buy a house in the coming future. hahahah 

Com Kitty stayed VD is FOC 🙈🙉🙊

[Inlinefour]

28 minutes ago, kobayashiGT said:

I know kim, but kim dunno me leh. hahaha 

30 days probation sure failed 🙊🙉🙈

[Inlinefour]

26 minutes ago, Jamesc said:

To bad I not housing developer so I don't know how to solve the housing problem.

I am a car dealer and only know how to make COE go up.

you are a dealer cum the rapist oops typo therapist 🙈🙉🙊

[Stratovarius]

orh hor! 

But this kind of things very common. Unless you go patent the idea else just suck thumb. 

[Estrangable]

move on leh, salty people... already 2023, still talking about 2013. If crown prince say its his idea then its definitely his idea. Learn to start treating his words as edict . The sooner you can accept this fact, the easier it will be for the transition 

[Jamesc]

25 minutes ago, Inlinefour said:

you are a dealer cum the rapist oops typo therapist 🙈🙉🙊

Its true

I am the best the rapist in town.

 

[13177]

23 minutes ago, Estrangable said:

move on leh, salty people... already 2023, still talking about 2013. If crown prince say its his idea then its definitely his idea. Learn to start treating his words as edict . The sooner you can accept this fact, the easier it will be for the transition 

Ya lo, why still harping on the thing happened in 2013. Who is right who is wrong difficult to say liao. 😅

Anyway, J Teo age a lot for the past 10 years siah. 2013 look and 2023 look quite different.