Two apps won the competition CME Offshore launched for Lebanon’s Independence day, one called “Save the Flag” where you have to fly an army helicopter through obstacles and another app called “Watani” where you move from one army rank to another after correctly answering a list of questions.

I liked the “Watani” app more but I wish students had thought of more useful apps, like one that can send the location of an army soldier that just got kidnapped or is lost, or one that sends somehow a distress signal based on some criteria.

Beirut, Lebanon – December 2014: After CME announced their Independence App competition, 9 different teams from 6 universities participated and came up with some innovative and dynamic ideas, attracting over 4000+ users in a single week. The competition was intended to give $2000 to the winning app, but two teams came up with outstanding ideas that encouraged CME to double the prize up to $4000 splitting it equally among the two participants.

Save The Flag (Available on both Android and iPhone) by Peter Azar and Rami Allam (both from ESIB): It is a game that reflects our current situation and the way our army is fighting terrorism all over the country in every corner. “The biggest obstacle we came across was finding a way to take the theme presented to us and translate it into an entertaining game” said Peter Azar and Rami Allam. The team seems very excited to build on top of the current app and take it to the next level.

Watani (Available on Android only) by Rene Haddad, Christopher Barakat and Elie Mhawej (All from Université Antonine): It is a quiz app that tests the user’s knowledge about Lebanon and rewards him/her with Lebanese military ranks. The app is very special in its technology and a material design user experience. “We really appreciate and support similar initiatives that establish a common ground between an academic path, a patriotic spirit and an enterprise or a business need!” said Professor Talar Atechian who offered a full guidance to the Antonine team since the first day.