This weekend marks the starts of the Imagine Cup grand finals, an international competition to discover new and exciting ideas from teams all over the world. The event is now in its 10th year and this year 106 teams from 75 countries are participating in the Worldwide Finals.
Imagine Cup students have been some of the earliest adopters of new technologies such as Kinect for Xbox 360, Windows 8, Windows Azure and Windows Phone. Around 45% of the entrants are building solutions on top of Microsoft’s cloud solution, Azure.
This year’s theme is: “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.” Students are creating technology solutions that combat diseases, improve education, ensure environmental sustainability, reduce child mortality, and tackle other social challenges. These are people who look at the world in a different way to most. While most people move through life using the creations of others, these entrants are the kind of people who look at the world’s pain points and use technology to solve them.
Imagine Cup also has a grants program which means up to four teams will be selected to be part of the $3 million investment by Microsoft to help students turn their ideas into reality.
Stay tuned for more information about the event and details of our smartest Aussie students competing for the prize. Until then, you can check out the photo stream from the event on Flickr or follow #ImagineCup on twitter.
