Winners of the UtrechtInc Award – ProjectB Challenge 2022

In 2022, my team and I experienced something truly special: we became the proud winners of the UtrechtInc Award during the ProjectB Challenge, a nationwide competition organized by Sogeti.

The challenge brought together ten teams from universities of applied sciences across the Netherlands. From Groningen in the north to Eindhoven in the south, each team worked tirelessly to design innovative solutions aimed at supporting the lives of people with chronic illnesses or disabilities. The diversity of ideas and approaches made the competition both inspiring and humbling.

For us, students at the Hogeschool Rotterdam, it was not just a competition — it was an opportunity to turn creativity and technology into something that could genuinely make the world a little more inclusive.

The Idea Behind Our App

Our project centered on an issue that often goes overlooked: communication barriers for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. While sign language is a powerful and expressive tool, not everyone has the chance or resources to learn it. This often results in isolation and missed opportunities for connection.

That is why we developed an application that allows users to learn sign language in an engaging and interactive way. Instead of relying on traditional lessons, our app introduces a playful approach where learning feels like a natural process rather than a chore.

But we didn’t stop there. We also integrated text-to-sign translation, enabling real-time conversion of written language into gestures. This dual functionality transforms the app into both an educational tool and a bridge for communication, breaking down barriers between communities.

How We Built It

Bringing this idea to life meant exploring both design and technology. One of the most exciting aspects of the project was working with artificial intelligence to recognize gestures and map them to letters of the alphabet.

We trained a TensorFlow.js model capable of interpreting input data and classifying it into specific signs. This model became the backbone of the translation feature, allowing our app to "understand" gestures and provide accurate outputs.

Under the Hood Example

1// TensorFlow.js model used in our prototype
2const model = tf.sequential();
3model.add(tf.layers.dense({ units: 16, activation: 'relu', inputShape: [63] }));
4model.add(tf.layers.dense({ units: 17, activation: 'softmax' }));
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With this structure, the app can analyze hand positions and movements, then match them to letters in sign language. From there, we built features that make the learning process fun, rewarding, and practical for real-world use.

Winning the UtrechtInc Award

When the final day of ProjectB arrived, we were already proud of what we had built. Competing against nine other strong teams with their own inspiring solutions, we knew the outcome would be tough to predict.

Hearing our team’s name announced as the winner of the UtrechtInc Award was a moment of pure excitement and gratitude. It was not only recognition of our hard work but also validation that our idea has the potential to make a difference in people’s lives.

Gratitude and Teamwork

This achievement would not have been possible without the guidance and support we received throughout the challenge. A huge thank you goes to UtrechtInc and Sogeti for organizing such a meaningful competition, and to the mentors who encouraged us along the way.

Most importantly, I am grateful to my teammates. Their creativity, dedication, and resilience transformed this project from a concept into a working prototype. Winning this award was a team effort in every sense of the word.

Looking Ahead

The ProjectB Challenge may have ended, but our journey with this idea has only just begun. Winning the UtrechtInc Award gave us the confidence to continue developing our app and explore new possibilities for how technology can foster inclusivity.

We believe that tools like ours can empower people, break down communication barriers, and help build a society where everyone feels seen and heard.

This project showed us that innovation is not just about building something new — it’s about making an impact. And that’s exactly what we intend to keep doing.