Imagine Cup Blog

Microsoft Imagine Cup and Kodu Cup winners go to the White House

2012-02-08T00:07:00Z

Remember David Hayden with Team Note-Taker from Imagine Cup 2010 and 2011? Today he had the opportunity to participate in the second White House Science Fair along with Jacen Sherman and Hannah Wyman from Kodu Cup. You can learn more about David’s experience and hear from the Kodu Cup winners on the Citizenship blog. Congratulations!

Imagine Cup Grants Winners Demonstrate Innovation and Entrepreneurialism at World Economic Forum

2012-01-30T23:04:00Z

Last Friday, students from the winning teams of the inaugural year of the Imagine Cup Grants program had the opportunity to demonstrate their technology prototypes and share their ideas with Bill Gates and Brad Smith. You can read about their experience at the World Economic Forum and their resulting conversations with Bill and Brad in the Microsoft Feature Story, Will the Next Bill Gates Please Step Up: Young Entrepreneurs Meet Microsoft’s Founder.

Imagine Cup 2012 registration is still open; sign up, assemble your team and start developing your technology design today!

Microsoft Announces Four Imagine Cup Grant Winners in Inaugural Year

2012-01-25T23:48:00Z

Today, we’re announcing the four teams that have been selected as the inaugural Imagine Cup Grant winners! Starting today, these students will continue their journey of transitioning their Imagine Cup project into a startup business or nonprofit organization with support from Microsoft as well as on the ground connections they will soon make.

It’s no secret that Imagine Cup students are changing the world. Since the competition’s launch in 2003 we’ve seen student inventions make a real impact in a variety of ways, from disaster relief efforts in Haiti and Japan, to revolutionizing student participation in the classroom, to helping with stroke rehabilitation for the elderly.

Without further ado, here are your Imagine Cup Grants winners!

Team Apptenders from Croatia
Team Members
Ivan Antonic, Ivan Borko, Karmela Bresan, Dominik Tomicevic,
Project Description
KiDnect is a Kinect-based solution for on-premise and remote physical therapy for children, especially those born with Cerebral Palsy. This software has the ability to monitor a child’s exercises to ensure they are being completed correctly, and then provides statistical analysis to the therapist.
What’s Next
Team Apptenders hopes to add multilingual interfaces in order to integrate additional sensors for limb rotation monitoring and advanced data analysis. The team plans to deploy the system on Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud platform.
Team Photo

Team Video

Team Falcon Dev from Ecuador
Team Members
José Vicente Anilema Guadalupe, Gerardo Francisco Pérez Layedra, Henry Javier Paca Quinaluiza, Juan José Morales Ruiz
Project Description
SkillBox is an affordable solution to help children who are hearing impaired by translating all audio received from a teacher in a classroom into sign language. A wireless headset captures the sound, sends it to the computer and SkillBox then shows the corresponding sign for the word or phrase.
What’s Next
Team Falcon Dev hopes to take their first step in making SkillBox available to children by selling their technology solution to public schools in Ecuador.
Team Photo

Team Video

Team OaSys from Jordan
Team Members
Hani AbuHuwaij, Mohammad Azzam, Monir Abu Hilal, Mohammad Saleh, Yousef Wadi
Project Description
Horizon is a software and hardware system that allows people who do not have use of their hands/arms to use a computer. Specifically, it tracks head movements and translates these movements into mouse movements. Users get full control of a computer and a cellphone, and can browse the internet, type and connect with ease and at a low cost.
What’s Next
Team OaSys hopes to improve the software stack by optimizing and adding features, pilot client lab preparations and hire sub-contractors.
Team Photo

Team Video

Team LifeLens from the United States
Team Members
Tristan Gibeau, Cy Khormaee, Wilson To, Jason Wakizaka, Helena Xu
Project Description
Lifelens is an innovative point-of-care tool to diagnose malaria using an augmented Windows Phone application. The project addresses the unacceptably high child mortality rates caused by the lack of detection and availability of treatment of malarial diseases.
What’s Next
Team Lifelens is ready to develop their project for launch. They will use the investment for distribution of their devices, subsidizing the phones and field testing. Lifelens also plans to evolve their project by integrating Windows Azure.
Team Photo

Team Video

The Imagine Cup Grants are a three-year, $3 million competitive grant program to help Imagine Cup participants take their ideas and their innovative solutions to market as a next step to solving the world’s toughest problems. This year, all Imagine Cup 2011 worldwide finalist teams were eligible to apply and we were blown away by the 50 teams that applied for the program. You can learn more about the Imagine Cup Grants on the Imagine Cup Virtual Pressroom.

Right now, students can register to be part of Imagine Cup 2012 and can sign up in any of eight different categories. From designing brand new technology in Software Design to building gadgets through the Kinect Fun Labs Challenge, there is something for every student to enjoy. Who knows - your team could be the next group of students Microsoft funds through the Imagine Cup Grants!

Microsoft Announces Windows Metro Style App and Kinect Fun Labs Challenges for Imagine Cup 2012

2012-01-18T20:04:00Z

Today, Microsoft is inviting students to compete in the Imagine Cup by innovating using “Windows 8” and Kinect with two new Challenges for Imagine Cup 2012: the Windows Metro Style App Challenge sponsored by Microsoft Windows and the Kinect Fun Labs Challenge sponsored by Microsoft Studios.

Imagine Cup students have always been blazingly fast at adopting new technologies. We know you will not only be up to these newest challenges, but that you will surprise and delight the whole world in how you use these technologies to solve the toughest problems!

Kinect Fun Labs Challenge
The Kinect Fun Labs Challenge brings Imagine Cup into the living room and expands the role of Kinect in competition, inviting you to think about entertainment with a social conscience and solve the world’s toughest problems using Kinect technology for the Xbox 360 console and Xbox LIVE – an Imagine Cup first!

Kinect’s natural user interface (NUI) features open up a ton of opportunity for Imagine Cup teams. We can’t wait to see how you will use Kinect functions like skeleton tracking, speech recognition, face recognition, and gestures. For this Challenge, you will be provided with state-of-the-art tools to develop Kinect Fun Labs style applications on your PC. And… the 100 teams that advance to Round 2 will each receive a free Kinect sensor!

Windows Metro Style App Challenge
Windows 8 is coming and Metro style apps are the center of the Windows 8 experience. With this Challenge, you can be at the forefront of creating Windows Metro style applications!

With Windows 8, Microsoft has created a new and beautiful Windows Metro style user interface, which lets you find the information important to you, embodies simplicity, and gives you control. We’ve built it for touch from the ground up to help you do what you want quickly and naturally. Most importantly, we built Windows 8 to give passionate developers like you a platform to create a whole new generation of full-screen apps that are based on modern web standards.

The Imagine Cup Windows Metro Style App Challenge will test your team’s ability to prototype a Metro style app that takes advantage of Windows 8 features and Metro design styles to deliver an experience that solves one of the world’s toughest problems. We’re bringing the platform – you bring the ideas!

How to Compete
You can start competing in these challenges today, in addition to the previously announced Software Design and Game Design Competitions and the Windows Phone, Azure and IT Challenges.

Both challenges feature two rounds. In Round 1, you will set the foundation for your project vision and establish a base of knowledge for the technology; in Round 2, you will execute on your vision. The challenges will be run and judged online only, with winners announced on stage at the Worldwide Finals in Sydney, Australia. Teams are encouraged to enter and compete in as many competitions and challenges as they can! (Check them all out here.)

Complete details and applications are available on the Windows Metro Style App and Kinect Fun Labs Challenge pages. You can also stay up to date on Imagine Cup news by becoming a fan on Facebook and following us on Twitter!

We know solving the world’s toughest problems won’t be easy, so we want you to have all the latest technologies available. Can you imagine the possibilities? If you can, you should enter!

Microsoft Announces 15 Imagine Cup Grants Finalists and Judging Panel

2011-12-13T03:04:00Z

At the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals this past July, Microsoft announced a three-year, $3 million competitive grant program to help Imagine Cup participants take their ideas and their innovative solutions to market as a next step to solving the world’s toughest problems. The winning teams will be awarded with a grant package in the form of cash, software, resources and other on the ground support. Today, we are thrilled to announce the 15 finalist teams and the distinguished panel of judges that will ultimately select the Imagine Cup Grants winners in late January, 2012. Microsoft has always encouraged teams to continue moving their Imagine Cup projects forward in order to make a real impact in the lives around us. Thanks to the Imagine Cup Grants, that dream will become a reality for a few well-deserving teams.

Our panel of judges is comprised of leading industry experts who will use their knowledge of the startup culture, technology, the nonprofit sector, software development and venture capitalism to select the Imagine Cup Grants winning teams. There are four main criteria that the judges will consider- the two biggest being the impact and viability of their solutions as well as their team’s quality and motivation. It’s pivotal that each winning team’s project have an impact on the issue they chose to address, and the leadership and teamwork that will be necessary to overcome obstacles they may face along the way. The judges’ decisions will be announced in late January. You can read more about the judges and the finalists below.

Judging panel

Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director of Global Community Affairs, Microsoft Corporation
•   Akhtar administers Microsoft’s global community investment and employee programs. He is a Board Member of United Way of King County, the Global Knowledge Partnership, Council on Foundations, Youth Employment Summit Inc., and is the chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center. Akhtar is an architect by training, a doctoral graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the former president of the Lambda Alpha International, New Jersey Chapter.

Peter Cowhey, Dean: Qualcomm Endowed Chair in Communications and Technology Policy, School of International Relations and Pacific Studies: University of California, San Diego
•   Cowhey can provide commentary on U.S. trade policy, foreign policy, the future of communications and information technology markets and policy, the internet, biological threats, international corporate strategy, and the microfinance industry to alleviate poverty.

Tim Draper, Founder and Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
•   Tim launched the DFJ Global Network, an international network of early-stage venture capital funds with offices in over 30 cities around the globe. As an advocate for entrepreneurs and free markets, Tim is regularly featured as a keynote speaker in entrepreneurial conferences throughout the world, has been recognized as a leader in his field through numerous awards and honors, and has frequent TV, radio, and headline appearances.

Debra Dunn, Advisor to Social Ventures, Skoll Foundation
•   As a member of the faculty at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (aka d.school) at Stanford University Debra is spearheading classroom and project work in Design for Sustainable Abundance. She also works as an advisor to business start-ups and social ventures around the world.

Edward G. Happ, Global Chief Information Officer of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Chairman of NetHope
•   Edward’s thirty plus years of professional experience include all facets of managing information services and high technology businesses, including general management with P&L responsibility, operations, product management, sales, marketing, customer service, human resources management, technical consulting, manufacturing, and both software and hardware development. Read his blog here.

Zeev Klein, General Partner, Landmark Ventures
•   Zeev Klein is part of the founding team of Landmark Ventures and responsible for business development, investment banking and venture capital investments working with a portfolio of early-stage technology companies.

Dan’l Lewin, Corporate Vice President: Strategic and Emerging Business Development, Microsoft Corporation
•   Dan'l Lewin, is responsible for leading Microsoft's global engagement with startups and venture capitalists and business relationships with strategic industry partners. Lewin's teams focus on supporting the startup and entrepreneur ecosystem developing on the Microsoft platform while helping foster local software economies worldwide.

Jeff Raikes, Chief Executive Officer, Gates Foundation
•   Jeff Raikes leads the foundation's efforts to promote equity for all people around the world. He sets strategic priorities, monitors results, and facilitates relationships with key partners for all three Gates Foundation program groups.

Ann Winblad, Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
•   Ann is the co-founder and a Managing Director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. She is a well-known and respected software industry entrepreneur and technology leader.

Imagine Cup Grant Finalists

Team Apptenders – Croatia
•   KiDnect is a Kinect-based solution for on-premise and remote physical therapy for children. This software has the ability to monitor a child’s exercises to ensure they are being completed correctly, and then provides statistical analysis to the therapist.
•   Team Apptenders hopes to add multilingual interfaces in order to integrate additional sensors for limb rotation monitoring and advanced data analysis.

Team Co2ncerned – Turkey
•   Co2ncerned created a system where individuals and corporations calculate their CO2 emissions and balance it by donating to environmental projects. CO2ncerned is a common platform for environmental sustainability and social responsibility.
•   Team Co2ncerned hopes to use support from Imagine Cup Grants to help with international connections and the licensing cost for the system requirements.

Team CodeRaiders – Poland
•   LifeCircle+ is a modern system solving the problems that blood centers, the people needing blood, and potential donors face on a daily basis. Using Windows Azure and Windows Phone, this platform minimizes the problem of shortages in blood centers by ensuring adequate amounts in times of emergency, and promotes the cause of blood donation via social networks.
•   Team CodeRaiders plans to use cash prize for the further development and deployment of the LifeCircle+ solution on a global scale.

Team Cyan Girls – Senegal
•   PAGEL is a cloud platform designed to provide infrastructure and ecommerce support for rural farmers and fishermen. With software as a service (SAAS) combined with Windows Azure, these individuals and small businesses can better set pricing, identify markets to sell their goods and gain worldwide visibility through an online marketplace..
•   Team Cyan Girls hopes for the opportunity to set up a company that prioritizes creativity, innovation and good results.

Team Dragon – United States
•   Team Dragon’s project utilizes both Windows Phone 7 and a spirometer to enable a game called Azmo the Dragon, which helps children learn about and manage their asthma by having their breath be that of a dragon that destroys civilizations. The team expanded their scope into asthma care plans: prescribed regimens for families, given by doctors to help them care for asthma and respond to different situations.
•   Team Dragon hopes to use the entirety of the grant funding for research and development, including pilot testing, prototyping and code development.

Team Falcon Dev – Ecuador
•   Skillbox is an affordable solution to help children who are hearing impaired by translating all the speaking audio received from a teacher in a classroom into sign language. A wireless headset captures the sound, sends it to the computer and SkillBox then shows the corresponding sign for the word or phrase.
•   Team Falcon Dev hopes to make their product market-ready through support from Imagine Cup Grants.

Team Gatotkaca – Indonesia
•   Childhood is an early alert system that helps mothers prevent malnourishment in their children. It uses personal cell phones to educate mothers about healthy diets for their children as well as child development milestones. It connects mothers with pediatricians who can suggest proper action in the instance of unusual child growth or development.
•   Team Falcon Dev plans to invest the money to build larger infrastructure for their product.

Team Geekologic – France
•   People around the world often don’t realize the consequences that their negative actions have on the environment. Brainergy is a Windows Phone 7 Puzzle Game in which the player has to solve different challenges based on renewable energy. From the beginning of the adventure, players are confronted by a polluted world and will need to use renewable energy to clean it.
•   Team Geekologic would like to use support from Imagine Cup Grants to add viral and social networking functionalities, and make it compatible with a number of different platforms.

Team Hawk – Iraq
•   Team Hawk developed a Windows Phone 7 application, the Refugee Application Form, that provides an instant and secure system for registering refugees and their welfare needs. It helps monitor health care and education, as well as facilitating aid distribution. The solution provides a mobile means for staff and users with minimal training to enter data relevant to the welfare and educational needs of the refugees. The data stored using Windows Azure can be accessed by the NGOs through any computing device.
•   Team Hawk will use the entirety of the funding on the continued development of their application to make it more adaptable to various scenarios.

Team Lifelens – United States
•   Lifelens is an innovative point-of-care tool to diagnose malaria using an augmented Windows Phone 7 application. The project addresses the unacceptably high child mortality rates caused by the lack of detection and availability of treatment of malarial diseases.
•   Team Lifelens is committed to using Grants support to develop their project for launch. They will use the investment for distribution of their devices, subsidizing the phones and field testing.

Team majiRanger – Germany
•   With majiSolutions, a three-fold product, the current workflow of waterpointmapping is automated as far as possible and optimized in quality. With a Windows Phone 7 application, majiMobile, the data regarding water resources is captured on the spot. It is then sent directly to a server where it is processed and analyzed by the majiFramework. Finally, a Silverlight application called majiWeb, provides various visualizations and possibilities for analysis, thus, being a base for important decisions.
•   Team majiRanger hopes to use the cash prize to carry out two piloting projects, which will help them earn their first customers, and take majiSolutions from project to product level.

Team Nerds Inc. – Nigeria
•   Medicare is a web-based solution that enables interaction between health workers and doctors. Through Medicare, medical details of a patient can be sent to the doctor and the resulting diagnosis and prescription are then sent back to the health workers. It educates health workers on the latest medical trends from global health organizations and government parastatals, and provides an Azure-based platform for healthcare delivery, diagnosis and prescription to remote locations.
•   Team Nerds plans to use the cash prize to pay for cloud computing and deploy the solution in all the medical health centers in Ondo State.

Team Note-Taker – United States
•   The Note-Taker is a portable Windows 7-based hardware + software solution that provides low-vision students with simultaneous, magnified views of their notes and a distant board. It consists of a zoom camera attached to a laptop or tablet. Students take handwritten or typed notes in a split-screen interface on the computer and control the camera through pen and multitouch gestures. After class, students can review their notes and see any audio and video that was recorded at the time they took a particular note.
•   If Team Note-Taker wins an Imagine Cup Grant, the cash prize will be vested into Seymour Research, LLC, for use in the design, manufacture, and marketing of the device.

Team OaSys – Jordan
•   Horizon is a software and hardware system that allows people who do not have use of their hands/arms to use a computer. Specifically, it tracks head movements and translates these movements into mouse movements. Users get full control of a computer and a cellphone, browse the internet, type and connect with ease and at a low cost.
•   Team OaSys hopes to improve the software stack by optimizing and adding features, pilot client lab preparations and hire sub-contractors.

Team Signum Games – Brazil
•   In UCan, players create strategies to find the best way to help solve issues in their city like health, education and the environment. Players must manage their resources smartly by planting trees, training volunteers, helping others, and successfully avoiding obstacles.
•   Team Signum Games plans to use funding from Imagine Cup Grants to pay their team to develop their solution, pay for marketing and purchase licenses.

Microsoft Announces Windows Azure and Windows Phone Challenges for Imagine Cup 2012.

2011-11-18T21:50:00Z

Today, Microsoft announced two individual Challenges for Imagine Cup 2012: Windows Azure Challenge and Windows Phone Challenge. This year students will have the opportunity to submit projects into both of these Challenges in addition to the Software Design, Game Design and IT Challenge competitions which were announced in October.

Challenges focus on helping students through the whole development cycle –including concept design in Round 1 and then creating and presenting their solution in Round 2. While the Software Design and Game Design Competitions will include presentations at the Worldwide Finals, the Windows Azure and Windows Phone Challenges will be run and judged online only with winners announced on stage at the Worldwide Finals in Sydney, Australia. We encourage students to compete in as many Competitions and Challenges as they can!

Windows Phone Challenge sponsored by Nokia
The Windows Phone Challenge sponsored by Nokia invites students to develop socially conscious apps that will be judged on functionality, utility and user delight. Last year, Windows Phone was the most frequent technology used among Imagine Cup students: nearly half of the competing teams at the Worldwide Finals integrated mobile elements to their projects. Will this year’s Challenge prove to be bigger and stronger that the last? We certainly hope so!

We are also excited to announce that Nokia will be a premier sponsor of Imagine Cup 2012 including sponsoring the Windows Phone Challenge in order to encourage young developers to continue creating exciting applications for the Windows Phone platform. Nokia recently released their highly anticipated first devices running on a Windows Phone platform, the Nokia Lumia family.

Nokia will also help students get started with their game-changing ideas by offering a number of engaging development suggestions already available in areas such as education, health and environment on the IdeasProject website.

Windows Azure Challenge
Cloud computing is changing the face of technology. More than 30 percent of teams at the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals integrated Windows Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing service, into their technology designs. By using the cloud, Imagine Cup students have already changed the way education technology functions in the classroom, proven that social media can help lessen our carbon footprints, and created systems to keep medical records more organized. Students who participate in the Windows Azure Challenge will be at the forefront of how the cloud is transforming the way we live and work.

Students will have the opportunity to advance to the Worldwide Finals by submitting projects into either of these Challenges or by participating in the IT Challenge which was announced in October. We believe that focusing the Imagine Cup 2012 Challenges on Windows Azure and Windows Phone will pave the way for amazing new innovations. Imagine Cup students are among the earliest adopters of these rising technologies, and we can’t want to see how they will apply their creativity and inventiveness to this year’s Challenges!

For more information, please visit the Windows Azure and Windows Phone Challenge pages, where you can learn how to participate and find handy tips to help you get started. You can also stay up to date on Imagine Cup news by becoming a fan on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

Imagine Cup 2012 Competition Sign-ups and Applications for Imagine Cup Grants Launch Today

2011-10-17T23:37:00Z

The wait is over! Today students can sign up to compete in the tenth annual Imagine Cup in Software Design, Game Design: Phone, Game Design: Xbox/Windows, and the IT Challenge. Today also marks the launch of the Imagine Cup Grants program.

Based on feedback from current and former Imagine Cup participants, we have made some updates to the structure of the Imagine Cup 2012 competition. Here are some details you should be aware of:

Microsoft has removed Embedded Development from Imagine Cup 2012, but students can still submit embedded-related projects to the Software Design category as long as the submission meets all Software Design requirements. Through the years, we've seen a number of winning Software Design projects incorporate embedded technology; for example, at the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals, the 1^st and 2^nd place Software Design teams both used embedded technology in their projects.

There will be an increased focus on the Game Design competition with two tracks: Game Design: Phone and Game Design: Xbox/Windows.

Similar to past years, in addition to the more extensive competitions, students will be able to compete in a variety of online Challenges. Starting today, students can sign up to participate in the IT Challenge and, soon we will announce additional online Challenges. Be sure to check back for more information!

In order to keep the focus of Imagine Cup on developing technology solutions for widespread global problems, we are also removing the Digital Media competition.

For more information about the Competitions and updates to Imagine Cup, be sure to check out our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Imagine Cup Grants

Announced at the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals in New York City in July, the three-year, competitive Imagine Cup grants program was created to help students bring their project to market and truly start solving the world's toughest problems. For each of the next three years, Microsoft will award between two and four grants that are a combination of cash, software, consulting and other support.

This year, all Imagine Cup 2011 worldwide finalist teams are eligible to apply for these grants starting today with their Imagine Cup 2011 projects. All 2011 worldwide finalist team captains and Academic Developer Evangelists will receive emails directing them to online applications for the grants which will be due by November 11, 2011, so winners can be announced in early 2012.

Grant recipients will be judged on four criteria: project impact and viability, team quality and motivation, solution design and innovation, and problem definition. Visit the Imagine Cup website to learn more about the Imagine Cup grant awards, eligibility, criteria, judging process, and more.

About Imagine Cup 2012

Imagine Cup is an international competition that encourages students to team up and use technology to bring about global and societal change. In past years, students have created technology platforms to help relief workers locate victims, affordable devices to revolutionize classroom education in impoverished areas, and mobile games that teach children the importance of caring for the environment. The Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals will be hosted in Sydney, Australia and we're already excited to see the amazing ways that students will change the world through technology. You could be an Imagine Cup 2012 winner, so gather your friends and sign up for a competition today!

Digital Media: Changing the World One Video at a Time

2011-07-28T21:54:00Z

Digital Media is unlike any other competition or challenge at the Imagine Cup. Instead of computers and software programs, students are armed with a video camera and a 24-hour deadline. But, similar to other competitions and challenges, the focus is all about changing the world and creating a better future. After qualifying for the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals through an online competition, the teams had one day in New York City to create a 1 minute and 12 second original web video focusing on societal issues about which they are passionate. This year, student teams ventured out across New York City to shoot their videos before editing them into a format to present to a panel of judges. This year, the videos that students created discussed concepts ranging from prenatal health concerns to ways the cloud can improve peoples’ lives.

Now sit back and relax as we welcome you to the Imagine Cup Cinema; grab some popcorn and enjoy the show!

Blind Ambition

2011-07-21T17:12:00Z

San Diego State University student, Jeremy Poincenot, was a keen golfer who played every Sunday from age 12 to 18, until the day his life abruptly changed. In 2008, Jeremy suddenly lost his central vision, first in one eye, then several weeks later in the second eye. After agonizing weeks of tests, he was diagnosed with a very rare genetic disorder called Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), which has no treatment and no cure.

David Hayden, who recently graduated from Arizona State University and is headed to MIT, was born with a visual impairment known as bilateral optic nerve hypoplasia. Like Jeremy, David cannot drive, distinguish faces, nor read without extreme magnification. But with a computer screen, David can get close enough to see, creating an “even playing field” for him to interact with the world.

Jeremy and David face tremendous challenges every day, but both have adapted to their visual impairments in unique and inspirational ways. Today, Microsoft is excited to share their stories with the debut of the first-ever Imagine Cup documentary, Blind Ambition.

Six months after losing his sight, Jeremy decided to pick up his clubs again. His dad acts as his sighted coach on the course, describing the hole he's playing, the bunkers, the water hazards and the dog-legs -- as well as adjusting his son's feet and club-face alignment before every shot. Last year, Jeremy won a nerve-wracking playoff to officially become the world's best blind golfer.

Last week David competed in the Worldwide Finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup, the world’s premier student technology competition, where his team placed second in the Software Design category. In collaboration with three fellow Arizona State University students, David developed Note-Taker, a system that helps vision-impaired students keep up with their fully sighted peers in the classroom. Note-Taker combines a custom video camera, a tablet PC running Windows 7, and Microsoft Office OneNote to allow students to view video of the teacher/board in class while simultaneously taking notes through a split screen interface.

Jeremy and David’s stories are awe-inspiring. Jeremy has become a world-champion athlete and works to raise awareness for LHON, and David has developed a technology that helped him get his own degree, and has the potential to enable learning for millions of vision-impaired people around the world.

Please take a few moments to watch the documentary, and if it inspires you as much as it does us, please help us share their incredible stories by passing it along to others! And if you are a student who feels inspired to use technology make a difference, we hope that you will register for Imagine Cup 2012 today!

Microsoft Unveils $3 Million Grant Program to Help Students Solve the World Problems

2011-07-14T13:25:44Z

During the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals World Festival and Awards Ceremony, Microsoft unveiled plans to launch a three-year, $3 million competitive grant program to help recipients realize their vision of solving the world’s toughest problems.

For more information, please see the press release.

Imagine Cup 2011 Winners Announced!

2011-07-14T13:20:49Z

What a week it has been! After six days of presentations, learning sessions, volunteering activities and hundreds of cans of Red Bull, the winners of the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals have been announced! Emotions were running high at the Koch Theatre as time ticked down to the big moment, and the theatre erupted once the nine award winning teams and People’s Choice Award winners were announced.

Students from all across the world have spent the last week in New York City showcasing projects that took months and, in some cases, years to finalize. Each project gives a unique solution to one of the toughest issues facing the world today in hopes that technology can help to create a better future. Students this year developed software to allow paraplegic individuals to use computers and devices that can fly over disaster areas to find survivors and alert rescue workers to their location. All told, 124 teams from 70 different countries competed in the finals this year and each team will leave this event with the ability and opportunity to make the world a better place.

A star-studded lineup attended the event to honor these students and their contributions towards changing the world. Philanthropist, activist and actor Eva Longoria presented the Imagine Cup People’s Choice Award and spoke about several Imagine Cup teams working on solutions for disaster relief. New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg applauded these students for their hard work and ingenuity.

Congratulations to each and every one of these students and the thousands more who competed in regional finals and online qualifiers. We have loved learning about your projects and the exciting work that you are doing. And, don’t forget to sign up for Imagine Cup 2012; we want to see YOU in Australia!

See below for a full list of award winners:

People’s Choice Award: Bangladesh, Team Rapture

The Imagine Cup People’s Choice Award went to Team Rapture, from Bangladesh. Team Rapture created Third Eye, a smartphone device for the visually impaired that provides an assistive camera and a special user interface with vibration, speech feedback and voice command.

Software Design

First Place: Ireland, Team Hermes

Second Place: United States, Team Note Taker

Third Place: Jordan, OaSys

Embedded Development

First Place: Taiwan, NTHUCS

Second Place: China, Harmonicare

Third Place: Romania, Endeavour_Design

Game Design – Web

First Place: Poland, Cellardoor

Second Place: Philippines, Signum Fidei

Third Place: Slovakia, Quegee Team

Game Design – Windows/Xbox

First Place: Brazil, Signum Games

Second Place: Thailand, JubJub

Third Place: WickedTeam, Czech Republic

Game Design – Mobile

First Place: France, Geekologic

Second Place: France, Close World Mobile

Third Place: USA, Team Dragon

Digital Media

First Place: Romania, M.N.A.

Second Place: Oman, Brothers Forever

Third Place: Taiwan, Cotton Candy

Windows Phone 7

First Place: Korea, HOMERUN

Second Place: Korea, Zipi Zigi

Third Place: United States, The LifeLens Project

Interoperability Challenge:

First Place: Greece, alaniarides

Second Place: Brazil, Bells Team

Third Place: Poland, DemosceneSpirit

Windows 7 Touch Challenge:

First Place: France, India Rose

Second Place: Indonesia, _dreambender_

Third Place: Japan, IUVO

Orchard Challenge:

First Place: Denmark, MP Brun

Second Place: Brazil, Virtual Dreams

Third Place: Serbia, Zveen Zveen Team

IT Challenge:

First Place: France, Jean-Sébastien Duchene

Second Place: Poland, Błażej Matuszyk

Third Place: Singapore, Yunheng Mong

Imagine Cup Citizenship Day Takes Students from Central Park to Ellis Island

2011-07-13T18:44:02Z

Imagine Cup Citizenship Day gave participants a much-needed rest from the competition element of the week and allowed students from around the world to spend the day experiencing New York City.

Students participated in a day of service in Central Park. The day included mural painting and construction of bookshelves and benches. All service benefited New York City public schools and other non-profit organizations working to improve the education of New York City’s under resourced students.

Following morning activities in Central Park, students had the opportunity to visit Liberty Island and view the Statue of Liberty as well as visit the historical Ellis Island.

The day of service in Central Park and Citizenship Day activities were truly meaningful for one student in particular. Corey Jeffers, Team IC Squared from the United States, just graduated from Ithaca College, located in Ithaca, New York. Despite living in New York prior to the Imagine Cup, Corey had the chance to see the city in a new light – through the eyes of students from around the world. The opportunity provided Corey the chance to connect with students from Nigeria to Malaysia and beyond.

Find all of the pictures from last night’s activities on our Flickr channel and Facebook.

Good luck to all of the finalists as they prepare for final presentations today!

Imagine Cup 2011: Learning Sessions

2011-07-12T11:07:01Z

This week students have a chance to take a break from the pressure of the competition and presentations as they participate in various Learning Sessions with topics ranging from Windows Azure and the cloud to creating apps for their brand new Kinects (in case you missed it, Steve Ballmer announced that all of the worldwide finalists will take home an Xbox Kinect)! The Imagine Cup is so much more than a competition- it also gives students an opportunity to learn more about the technologies they’ve used in their projects and provides helpful tips for landing winning job interviews.

This year, we’ve incorporated a couple of new learning sessions based on some exciting trends at the Worldwide Finals this year. Nearly twice as many women students are participating in the Imagine Cup finals this year and in order to address their role in technology and the STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) education, there was a Women Innovators’ Discussion and Dinner last night. A panel of experts led a thought-provoking conversation around ways to continue increasing the presence of women in STEM-related career fields and brainstormed ideas to help women competitors move their ideas and projects forward after the Imagine Cup.

Another exciting Learning Session will take place on Wednesday morning; students will be joined by a panel of leading professionals in the entrepreneurial industry who will showcase their expertise in guiding these students to create successful businesses with their innovative ideas. The panel will feature an array of opinions from a venture capitalist, an entrepreneur, a social entrepreneur, a Microsoft corporate executive and a very special guest.

And what could make these learning opportunities even more exciting? A free Xbox giveaway for one student at each Learning Session! Check out the list below for a full rundown on the sessions and special guests who will lead each throughout the week. While the chance to attend the Sunday sessions has passed, we look forward to a great turnout from students at the Wednesday sessions!

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Sunday Learning Sessions

Building Apps for Windows Phone 7
Speaker: Lindsay Lindstom – Academic Developer Evangelist, Microsoft
Description: The session will explore how DreamSpark and Windows Phone Marketplace help you make money with your Windows Phone 7 game or app, at no cost. See how simple it is to make an app with AppMakr and learn how some real-world apps are making money with Microsoft pubCenter.

Internet Explorer 9: A More Beautiful Web

Speaker: Giorgio Sardo – Senior Technical Evangelist, Microsoft

Description: The best way to learn about HTML5 is to build with HTML5. In this session Giorgio will share his experience working on some beautiful HTML5 projects with other Microsoft teams and the best design agencies around the world. He will discuss lessons learned, best practices, and a few crazy ideas you can use in your projects.

Windows Embedded and the Internet of Things: Opportunities for Tomorrow

Speaker: Eric Kamont – Solution Specialist, Microsoft

Description: The face of devices is changing and Windows Embedded is at the forefront of that change. Come explore trends in the market, this idea called the “Internet of Things” and what the next decade and beyond will mean for technology and careers.

Windows Azure: To the Cloud!

Speaker: Nick Harris – Technical Evangelist, Microsoft

Description: Windows Azure will enable you to build highly scalable applications harnessing the power of many machine cores at low cost. In this session, Nick will take you through the fundamental concepts required to develop for Windows Azure. It will be demo heavy as we look at how to set up your development environment, show you how to consume Windows Azure compute and storage, and ultimately the various ways to deploy your applications. At the end of this session, you should leave knowing how to begin building and deploying your own Windows Azure applications.

Learn How to Apply for Major Grants from USAID

Speaker: Pradeep Ramamurthy – Deputy Council for Innovation, USAID

Description: As part of its commitment to increase investments and engagement in cost-efficient innovations, USAID launched Development Innovation Ventures (DIV). DIV is as a way of producing development outcomes more effectively and cost-efficiently while managing risk and obtaining leverage. Through DIV, USAID seeks to identify and rigorously test promising projects with the potential to significantly (rather than incrementally) improve development outcomes, and help replicate and scale projects that are proven successful. USAID/DIV expects its most successful investments will have accelerated growth paths to reach tens of millions of beneficiaries worldwide within 10 years. However, USAID/DIV expects that some of its investments may not produce projected outcomes or produce suboptimal outcomes. We invite you to learn from the Deputy Counsel for Innovation about ways to obtain funding from this program.

Discover Windows Embedded! Demos Only!

Speaker: Oliver Block – Technical Evangelist Microsoft

Description: Driving your car, withdrawing cash at an ATM, finding your way with GPS, watching TV, receiving a package from UPS, - you use embedded devices all day long! Discover how Windows Embedded will power the next generation of specialized devices. Demos only... and come have fun too!

Kinect App-a-Thon

Speaker: Clint Rutkas – “Developer”, Microsoft

Description: Join Clint Rutkas and Stewart Tansley, PhD, Senior Research Program Manager at Microsoft Research Connections and acting Product Manager for the Kinect for Windows SDK for a guided tour and hands-on crash course on the new Kinect for Windows SDK (http://research.microsoft.com/kinectsdk). By the end of this session you will be building Kinect Apps! Stewart will open the session with an overview of the Kinect’s history and the SDK. Clint will take over and give you an overview of the Kinect sensor – how it works, and what data it provides (including the depth sensor, color camera sensor, and four-element microphone array). You will understand the skeletal tracking of one or two people moving within the Kinect field of view and how to the use this to create gesturedriven applications. Next, using the managed code C# wrappers, Clint will walk you through several sample applications to help you get familiar with the SDK and get you warmed up for the final segment of the session where you will build your own Kinect App. Stewart and Clint will answer your questions before giving you hands on support as you build your Kinect App! We will have Kinect Sensors on hand and demo stations set up so that you try your Apps out and show them off.

This session will be presented in C#. It is VERY hands on. Bring your laptop with the following tools installed:

Net Framework 4.0 – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569263
Visual C# 2010 Express (or full Visual Studio 2010) – http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/visual-csharp-express
DirectX SDK latest version (June 2010) – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/directx/aa937788.aspx (speeds up our SDK install if you check this first)
Kinect for Windows SDK (version to match your OS) – http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/download.aspx

Women Innovator’s Dinner and Discussion

Speakers:

Allison Watson – Marketing Corporate Vice President, Microsoft

Meryl Frank – Former US Ambassador to the UN Council on Women’s Issues

Earl Newsome – Vice President for Global Shared Services, Estee Lauder

Description: All women competitors and mentors are invited to join this dinner and discussion learning from women leaders and others about how they were inspired and pursued their passions and the impact they hope to have for the future. After sharing their stories, these leaders will join the women students to connect and brainstorm on ways to bring their projects to the next level.
*Please note: The Women Innovators’ Dinner and Discussion is by Invitation Only.

Wednesday Learning Sessions

Take Your Imagine Cup Experiences to the Next Level

Speakers:

Dan’l Lewin – Strategic and Emerging Business Development, Microsoft (Moderator)

Joy Marcus – Venture Partner, DFG Gotham

Dean Kamen, Inventor

Oliver Hurst-Hiller – Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President, Product, DonorsChoose.org

Morgan Kazan, Marketing Communications Manager, DonorsChoose.org

Stan Vonog, Vice President of Product Experiences, Net, Power and Light

Description: Do you want to know what it means to be an entrepreneur? Do you wonder what you should consider when you think about taking your project idea into a real business? If you want to gain practical guidance on how to turn your idea into a business, this discussion is for you. The panel discussion will feature perspectives from a venture capitalist, an entrepreneur, a social entrepreneur, and a Microsoft corporate executive.

Windows Embedded and the Internet of Things: Opportunities for Tomorrow

Speaker: Eric Kamont – Solution Specialist, Microsoft

Discover Windows Embedded! Demos Only!

Speaker: Oliver Block – Technical Evangelist Microsoft

What it Takes to Be a Researcher

Speaker: Tony Hey – Corporate Vice President, Microsoft

Description: Albert Einstein once said “If we knew what we were doing it wouldn’t be research.” If you are considering graduate school and the potential rewards of a career but are unsure about your path, please join Tony Hey from Microsoft Research to discuss life in academia and as a researcher. Tony has served as director of the U.K.’s e-Science Initiative, and was Head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science; and, Dean of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Southampton.

Insider Tips for Excelling in Technical Interviews

Speakers:

Rani Dent and Keith Auer – Microsoft

Nicole Holla, Recruiter HR & Recruitment - Avanade

Description: Have you ever wondered what interviewers are really looking for and why they ask some seemingly-random interview questions? Rani and Keith will provide a behind-the-scenes look at what interviewers are really trying to find out during the interview process. They will provide tips, tricks, and an open discussion to help you build on your abilities, and express your unique skills and traits in your next interview. Rani and Keith will be available for an hour after the presentation to review and provide resume advice or discuss recruiting topics of interest to the group.

Faculty Programs, Resources and New Visual Search

Description: Faculty, Judges, and Mentors! Learn about our Faculty Engagement programs and opportunities and review the new Faculty Connection web-based portal providing access to numerous curriculum resources for teaching and research. Find out how you can use Visual Search to find and explore content interactively—from slides to software tools. Pick up the Curriculum Resource Kits on Cloud Computing and Operating Systems, as wells as Agile Software Engineering Course, Security Thread Modeling game and more. We would like to hear your feedback, suggestions, and questions on how to improve the faculty experience during the Imagine Cup competition. We are also interested in your ideas on how to share the knowledge and experiences generated by you and students.

Imagine Cup Finalists Announced: 21 Teams Secure Their Spots in the Final Round

2011-07-11T15:16:43Z

From providing solutions to infant crib deaths to projects incorporating Xbox Kinect for faster rehabilitation, the remaining 21 finalist teams are truly solving some of the world’s toughest problems. Six Software Design teams, six Embedded Development teams and nine Game Design teams (across three different categories) will advance in the competition.

Stay tuned for pictures from today’s activities (student presentations, finalist announcement and more). We will be posting pictures online later tonight on Facebook and Flickr.

Imagine Cup Finalists

The teams listed below are moving on to the final round on Tuesday. Each team will present their projects to a new panel of judges and the winners will be announced Wednesday at the World Festival and Awards Ceremony (we will be live webcasting the awards ceremony on the Imagine Cup website, so be sure to tune in on Wednesday, July13, 4-7 p.m. EDT). Best of luck to all the remaining teams!

Software Design
- China, Care Everyone
- Ireland, Team Hermes
- Jordan, OaSys
- New Zealand, OneBuzz
- Romania, SIMPLEX
- United States, Team Note-Taker
Embedded Development
- Brazil, Embedded Brain
- China, Harmonicare
- France, Give Me 4
- Romania, Endeavour_Design
- Taiwan, NTHUCS
- United Kingdom, Cycling into trees
Game Design – Mobile
- France, Close World Mobile
- France, Geekologic
- US, Team Dragon
Game Design – Web
- Philippines, Signum Fidei
- Poland, Cellardoor
- Slovakia, Quegee Team
Game Design – XNA/Windows
- Brazil, Signum Games
- Czech Republic, WickedTeam
- Thailand, JubJub Team

Second Round Finalists Announced: Microsoft Narrows the Field to 33 Software Design & Embedded Development Teams

2011-07-10T17:55:40Z

After a day packed with student presentations, more than 400 students waited in anticipation tonight to learn who would have the chance to continue their quest toward winning their competition at the Imagine Cup. Congratulations to the 18 Software Design teams and the 15 Embedded Development teams who will move on to next round of competition!

It is worth noting that all of the students onsite have already achieved a great deal of success—they advanced through multiple rounds of competition to make it to the worldwide finals. And remember, People’s Choice Award voting is still underway so be sure to vote for your favorite today!

Pictures from today’s activities (student presentations, second round finalist announcement) will be online later tonight on Facebook and Flickr.

Second Round Finalists

The teams listed below will have the chance to present to a different panel of judges on Sunday to ultimately qualify for the final round on Tuesday. We will announce the finalists for the other competitions and challenges on Sunday night (including Game Design . Best of luck to all the remaining teams!

Software Design (18 teams)
- Brazil, LevelUP
- Chile, Lifeware S.A.C.
- China, Care Everyone
- Croatia, apptenders
- Czech Republic, Celebrio Software
- Finland, Team 25k
- India, Infiniti
- Ireland, Team Hermes
- Jordan, OaSys
- Malaysia, Team Cyber Knightz
- Morocco , White Light
- New Zealand, OneBuzz
- Romania, SIMPLEX
- Russia, OriTeam
- Slovakia, Zippers
- Slovenia, 2ndSight
- Ukraine, DashPoint
- United States, Team Note-Taker

Embedded Development (15 teams)
- Brazil, Embedded Brain
- China, Harmonicare
- Colombia, Freakin' Mind
- Egypt, ideas 4 u
- France, Give Me 4
- India, Drushti
- Indonesia, MACARA
- Poland, WCY_TEAM
- Romania, Endeavour_Design
- Russia, Calvus
- Singapore, Skynet
- Spain, Argitech
- Taiwan, N THUCS,
- United Kingdom, Cycling into trees
- United States, Syntax Errors