14 DAY TRIAL // Today, Microsoft officially announced the winners of its 10th annual Imagine Cup competition, which attracted a wide range of students from all around the world.
Imagine Cup 2012, meant to honor student technology innovations aimed at addressing some of the toughest problems of the world, had as its Software Design winner the Ukrainian Team quadSquad.
The team came up with a project that provides deaf individuals with the possibility to communicate verbally through the use of custom-designed sensory gloves combined with a smartphone application that could translate sign language gestures into speech.
Moreover, Microsoft announced that Thailand team TANG Thai and U.S. team Drexel Dragons won the two Game Design competitions, for games focused on environment and math education, respectively.
Microsoft announced the Imagine Cup 2012 competition winners at the Imagine Cup World Festival and Awards Ceremony at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, where 106 student teams gathered for the event.
As part of the competition, cash prizes of around US$175,000 were awarded in eight competition categories. Over 350 students from 75 countries came to Sydney to compete in the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals.
“Over the past 10 years, Imagine Cup participants have applied technology and minds to positively impact their local communities and change the world,” said Moorthy Uppaluri, general manager, Global Academic Programs, Microsoft.
“Whether it’s using the cloud to aid in disaster recovery, inventing technology to make education more accessible to erase the digital divide or making it possible to diagnose medical conditions using mobile phones, the Imagine Cup has inspired students to imagine what once was considered impossible and make it real.”
According to Microsoft, Imagine Cup already went beyond being a simple competition, as it enables entrepreneurs, innovators and developers to come up with ideas, products or clear business plans, and event to have their product brought to the market.
Moreover, Microsoft announced that all Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finalist teams that came to Sydney can apply for Imagine Cup Grants, a three-year, US$3 million investment by Microsoft designed to help students bring their ideas to reality.
Additional info on the competition and on the Imagine Cup Grants is available on this webpage.