I had the same question has you last year, and I decided to apply to the Google Summer of Code, which is a project founded by Google to promote student engagement in the open source world (for more details https://code.google.com/p/dynnetwork/). Was awesome, and opened many doors for me :)

It's hard to start a project on your own and engage others. Get instead involved with an open source community that you find exciting, and which has already traction. This will expose you to a bigger audience, and will also give you a perception on what people really want and need.

...and as a last tipp, don't be shy to promote yourself, it's a pool of sharks out there ;)

hope this helps and good luck!