Wikipedia

Imagine Cup

Imagine Cup is an annual competition sponsored and hosted by Microsoft Corp. which brings together student developers worldwide to help resolve some of the world's toughest challenges.[1] It is considered as "Olympics of Technology" by computer science and engineering and is considered one of the top competitions and awards related to technology and software design. All Imagine Cup competitors create projects that address the Imagine Cup theme: "Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems". Started in 2003, it has steadily grown, with more than 2 million competitors representing 150 countries in 2022. The 2023 Imagine Cup World Championship was held in Seattle, United States.[2][3]

Imagine Cup official logo

History edit

 
Mistory group (2015)

The Imagine Cup began in 2003 with approximately 1,000 competitors from 25 countries and regions and has grown to more than 2 million competitors representing 150 countries in 2022. The Imagine Cup World Championship has been held all over the globe. Since 2014, the Imagine Cup World Championship has been held in Seattle, United States.[2]

  • 2003: Barcelona, Spain – Theme: Link between people, information, systems, and devices, using Web services and. NET as the springboard.
  • 2004: São Paulo, Brazil – Theme: Imagine a world where smart technology makes everyday life easier.
  • 2005: Yokohama, Japan – Theme: Imagine a world where technology dissolves the boundaries between us.
  • 2006: Agra & Delhi, India – Theme: Imagine a world where technology enables us to live healthier lives.
  • 2007: Seoul, South Korea – Theme: Imagine a world where technology enables a better education for all.
  • 2008: Paris, France – Theme: Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment.
  • 2009: Cairo, Egypt – Theme: Imagine a world where technology helps solve the world's toughest problems.
  • 2010: Warsaw, Poland – Theme: Imagine a world where technology helps solve the world's toughest problems.
  • 2011: New York City, United States – Theme: Imagine a world where technology helps solve the world's toughest problems.
  • 2012: Sydney, Australia – Theme: Imagine a world where technology helps solve the world's toughest problems.
  • 2013: St. Petersburg, Russia – Theme: All dreams are now welcome.
  • 2014: Seattle, United States
  • 2015: Seattle, United States
  • 2016: Seattle, United States
  • 2017: Seattle, United States
  • 2018: Seattle, United States
  • 2019: Seattle, United States
  • 2020: Digital event at Microsoft Build in Seattle, United States[4]
  • 2021: Digital event at Microsoft Build in Seattle, United States[5]
  • 2022: Seattle, United States[6]
  • 2023: Seattle, United States[7]
  • 2024: Register to take part

Competition structure edit

 
A team of competitors from Portugal - Imagine Cup Poland, 2010

All Imagine Cup competitors create projects that address the Imagine Cup theme: “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.”

Competitions edit

  • Software Design
    The Software Design competition challenges participants to use technology to solve what they consider to be the toughest problems facing the world today. Using Microsoft tools and technology, competitors create software applications. Participants develop, test, and build their ideas into applications that can change the world.[8]
  • Game Design
    The Game Design Competition challenges participants to create a new game that illustrates the Imagine Cup theme.[9]

Winners edit

There are a number of competitions and challenges within the Imagine Cup. The Software Design category is the primary competition in which its winners take home the Imagine Cup trophy.

Software Design edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2004   Team EPITA[10]
Aymeric Gaurat Apelli
Francois Beaussier
Guillaume Belmas
Vincent Vergonjeanne 		  Team Inspiration[10]
  Stanislav Vonog
  Nikolay Surin
  Konstantin Zhereb
  Taras Kushko 		  Team SmartEyes[10]
Eleni Korkontzila
Dimitrios Bisias
Styliani Taplidou
Nikolaos Trichakis
2005   Team OmniMusic[11]
  Stanislav Vonog
  Nikolay Surin
  Alexander Popov
  Ruslan Gilfanov
2006[12]   Team Even.ctor
Giorgio Sardo
Massimo Paternoster
Silvia Perrone
Andrea Sossich 		  Team Trivial
Carlos Rodrigues
Ivan Cardim
Madson Menezes 		 Team NTNU
Jan-Kristian Markiewicz
Gøran Hansen
Hans Olav Norheim
Jonas Follesø
2007   Team 3KC
Prachaya Phaisanwiphatpong
Vasan Chienmaneetaweesin
Jatupon Sukkasem
Pathompol Saeng-Uraiporn 		  Team En#605/Project Finger Code
Prachaya Phaisanwiphatpong
Vasan Chienmaneetaweesin
Jatupon Sukkasem
Pathompol Saeng-Uraiporn 		  Team ICAD
Imran Allie
Conroy Smith
Ayson Baxter
Damion Mitchel
2008[13]   Team SOAK[14]
David Burela
Edward Hooper
Dimaz Pramudnya
Long Zheng 		  Team Housekeepers
Dusan Zelenik
Jakub Simko
Michal Kompan
Marian Honsch
2009   Team Sytech
Adrian Buzgar
Calin Juravle
Andreas Resios 		  Team VitalLab
Maxim Bovykin
Sergey Fedorov
Denis Gnatyuk
Alexey Klishin
2010[15]   Team Skeek
Krithee Sirisith
Pichai Sodsai
Thanasunn Dilokpinitnun
Nonthawat Srichad 		  Team TFZR
Zlatibor Veljković
Milan Kojadinović
Goran Nikolić
Vanja Zavišin 		  Team OneBeep
Vinny Lohan
Steve Ward
Kayo Lakadia
Chanyeol Yoo
2011[16]   Team Hermes
James McNamara
Calum Cawley
Matthew Padden
Aine Conaghan 		  Team Note-Taker
Qian Yan
Shashank Srinivas
David Hayden
Michael Astrauskas 		  Team OaSys
Yousef Wadi
Mohammad Azzam
Monir Abu Hilal
Hani Abu Huwaij
2012[17]   Team quadSquad
Stepanov Anton
Posternikov Anton
Osika Maxim
Jasakov Valery
2013[18]   Team For a Better World
2014[19]   Team Eyenamia
2015[20]   Team EFitFashion
2016[21]   Team ENTy
2017[22]   Team X.Glu
2018[23]   Team SmartArm
2019[24]   Team EasyGlucose
Bryan Chiang 		  Team Caeli
Bharat Sundal 		  Team Finderr[25]
Ferdinand Loesch
Choon Kiat Lee
Sachin Sriskanda

Office Designer edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2005[26]   Team Solvent-OD
Andre Furtado
Adeline Silva
Madson Menezes
Raony Araujo 		  Team FIBRA
Sergey Dubovi
Pavel Zadumkin
Dmitry Kozlov
Anastasiya Filinova 		  Team Paladin
Liu Teifeng
Yang Yongzhi
He Cong
Yang Lizhen

Embedded Development Competition edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2007   Team TriventDreams ED

Andre Furtado
Carlos Rodrigues
Ivan Cardim
Roberto Sonnino

2008   Team Trail Blazers   Team AcidRain

  Team Wings

  Team Aero@PUT
2009   Team Wafree   Team iSee
2010 [15]   Team SmarterME   Team MCPU   Team GERAS
2011 [16]   NTHUCS   Harmonicare   Endeavour_Design

Interoperability Challenge edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2008   SKAN [27]
Sameet Singh Khajuria
Karun AB
Amith George
Noel Sequeira 		  Ecologix [28][29]
Carlos Eduardo Rodrigues
Eduardo Sonnino
Renato Ferreira
Roberto Sonnino 		  Together [30]
Dariusz Walczak
Marcin Wrzos
Piotr Sikora
Tomasz Nowak
2009 [31]   Proativa Team
Amirton Chagas
Flavio Almeida
Joao Paulo Oliveira Santos
Lucas Mello 		  ECRAM
Mohammed Y. Eshbeata
Laith Dawahir
Wassim Shehadeh 		  Fteams
Tomasz Ciejka
Grzegorz Glonek
Jacek Pintera
Krzysztof Szokal-Egird
2010 [32][33]   Xormis
Shawn Mclean
Derron Brown
Dwayne Samuels
Markel Mairs 		  Uptiva Dreams IT
Hugo Rodrigues
Edmiel Leandro
Daniel Ferreira
Eduardo Sonnino 		  Chandradimuka
Yudha Antawiryawan
Kania Audrint
Anggunmeka Luhur Prasasti
Widyara Desgita
2011 [16]   Team Alaniarides
Giorgos Karakatsiotis
Vangos Pterneas 		  Bells Team
Daniel Ferreira
Lucas Mello
Amirton Chagas
Joao Paulo dos Santos Oliveira 		  DemosceneSpirit
Lukasz Michniewicz
Szymon Majewski
Marek Banaszak
Magdalena Dudarska

Game Design edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2008   Team Mother Gaia Studio

Rafael Costa
Guilhermr Campos
Helena Van Kampen
Tulio Marques Soria

  Drunk Puppy Productions

Kenny Deriemaeker
Timothy Vanherberghen
Filip Van Bouwel
Jeroen Van Raevels

  GomZ

Dong HoonKim
KiHwan Kim
Min My Park

2009   Team LEVV It

Luciano José
Edgar Neto
Vinícius Ottoni
Victor Rafael

  Epsylon Games   Sanguine Labs
2010 [15]   Team By Implication   NomNom Productions   Green Gears Studio
2011 Mobile[16]   Geekologic   Close World Mobile   Team Dragon

Pierre Elias
Eric Lee
Veronica Burkel
Chase Sandmann

2011 Web[16]   Cellardoor   Signum Fidei

Thomas Tiam-Lee
Jenina Chua
Jeriah Miranda
Keven Hernandez

  Quegee Team
2011 Windows/Xbox[16]   Signum Games   JubJub[34]   WickedTeam
2012 Windows/Xbox[35]   TANG Thai[36]
2014[37]   Brainy Studio   BOMON   Illogic
2015 [38]   IzHard   Kuality Games   Thief
2016   PH21

IT Challenge edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2005   Stefan Plizga   Emanuel Pentescu   Andreas Tomek
2006   Andreas Tomek   Valy Greavu   Daniel Boteanu
2007 [39]   Zhifeng Chen   Romain Larmet   Ilie Cosmin Viorel
2008 [13]   Jean-Benoit Paux   Cosmin Ilie   Yan Liu
2009   Cosmin Ilie   Wu Chang   Miklos Cari Sivila
2010[15]   WeiQiu Wen   Miklos Cari Sivila   zxc1984
2011 [16]   Jean-Sébastien Duchêne   Błażej Matuszyk   Yunheng Mong

Digital Media edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2010[15]   Mirror Vita   Dreaming Spirits   Woolgathering
2011 [16]   M.N.A.   Brothers Forever   CottonCandy

Health Awareness Awards edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2012 [40]   FifthElement Project

Matteo Valoriani
Antimo Musone
Daniele Midi
Antonio Vecchio

N/A N/A

Connected Planet Award edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2013   Y Nots N/A N/A

Microsoft Azure (Cloud) edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2013   Y Nots   nLife   LetssGo

Windows Phone edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2011 [16]   HOMERUN   Zipi Zigi   Lifelens
Tristan Gibeau
Cy Khormaee
Wilson To
Jason Wakizaka
2012 [17]   Vivid
Noureldien Hussein (Nour El-Dien Hussein)
Muhammad El-Orabi
Kariem El-Shazly 		  The Stack
Karol Stosik 		  Aaltovation
Apurva Jaiswal
Irena Prochkova
Gitanjali Sachdeva
Maimuna Syed

Windows 7 Touch Challenge edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2011 [16]   Team India Rose
Anthony Froissant
José Martins 		  _dreambender_   IUVO

World Citizenship Competition edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2013 [41]   For a Better World   Omni-Hearing Solution   Foodbank Local
2014 [37]   Eyenaemia   SMART Crew   Access Earth
Matthew McCann
Jack Gallagher
KC Grant
Donal McClean
2015 [38]   Virtual Dementia Experience   Mozter   Prognosis
2016 [42]   AMANDA   Night's Watch   InSimu

Innovation Competition edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2013[43]   soundSYNK
Robert Parker
Alex Bochenski
Jonathan Neumann
Edward Noel 		  Dora   SkyPACS
2014[37]   Estimeet
Hayden Do
Jason Wei
Chris Duan
Derek Zhu
   Tep   ButterFly
2015 [38]   eFitFashion   NoObs Team   Siymb
2016 [44]   ENTy   Bit Masters   HealthX

Facebook Creativity Award edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2014 [37]   ij Developers
2013 [41]   Team Ayni

AppCampus Award edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2014 [37]   Tep
  Brainy Studio

Skype Award edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2014 [37] Drive Social Impact
  Eyenaemia

Learning and Education
  Code Buzzers
Innovate and Collaborate
  Super Sea Dragons

Visual Studio Online Boost edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2014 [37]   Genesis

  LeapKin
  Tutus
  flipped.uy
  RELOAD
  Learn n' Earn
  BiDE Code
  AfriGal Tech
  Flow

Apps For Office Challenge edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2014 [37]   iGeek

  CodeBlue

Windows & Windows Phone Challenge edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2014 [37]   Pomato Apps

User Experience Challenge edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2014 [37] World Citizenship

  Team HCI/d
Games
  Team Silicon
Innovation
  Hiraya
Gabriel Eric Villanueva
Jomarie Anne Marquez
Neo John Tuquero

Pitch Video Challenge edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2014 [37] World Citizenship
  Team Symbiote

Games
  Team Sticky Bits
Innovation
  Team Mote Labs

2015 [38] World Citizenship
  Rapid Response

Project Blueprint Challenge edit

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2014 [37] World Citizenship
  Team Life Up

Games
  Liaison Team
Innovation
  YouBeRu

Innovation Accelerator edit

The Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator was a program that, between 2006 and 2008, provided Imagine Cup Software Design teams with direction on the next stage of developing their innovative ideas into a business. Each year, between 2006 and 2008, six teams were selected for the Innovation Accelerator program. Participants in the Innovation Accelerator program travelled to the Microsoft Mountain View campus in Silicon Valley and received technical support and business coaching to create the must-have technology and communications applications of the future. In 2010, Microsoft began inviting every Imagine Cup team to participate in its new program for startups: Microsoft BizSpark.[45] With this program, startups receive access to current, full-featured software development tools and platforms.[46]

Previous teams include:

Imagine Cup Grant edit

A three-year, $3 million competitive grant program was established by Microsoft in 2011 to support a select number of winning teams’ solutions to go to market and realize its potential to solve a critical global problem. The inaugural grant recipients were announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 27, 2012, which included the following teams:

  • Team Lifelens from the United States
  • Team Apptenders from Croatia
  • Team Falcon Dev from Ecuador
  • Team OaSys from Jordan

The grant packages include US$75,000 for each team, as well as software, cloud computing services, solution provider support, premium Microsoft BizSpark account benefits and access to local resources such as the Microsoft Innovation Centers. Microsoft will also connect grant recipients with its network of investors, nongovernmental organization partners and business partners.

For the 2012 version of the competition, the following teams were announced in December 2012. The teams are:

  • Team Graphmasters from Germany. The team members are: Christian Brüggemann, Sebastian Heise and Iulian Nitescu.
  • Team StethoCloud from Australia. The team members are: Hon Weng Chong, Andrew Lin, Mahsa Salehi and Karthik Rajah.
  • Team Vivid from Egypt. The team members are: Noureldien Hussein (Nour El-Dien Hussein), Muhammed Mousa El-Orabi and Fady Fawzy Rafla.
  • Team Cipher256 from Uganda The team members are: Aaron Tushabe, Joshua Okello, Dr. Davis Musinguzi, Josiah Kavuma and Joseph Kaizzi.
  • Team QuadSquad from Ukraine. The team members are: Maxim Osika, Valeriy Yasakov, Anton Stepanov, Anton Posternikov and Dmytro Samoilenko.

Recognition edit

Imagine Cup participants from around the world who won their regional competitions in 2010 have been recognized by their government leaders.[47] In October 2010, two Imagine Cup 2010 United States finalists (Wilson To [48] from the Mobilifeteam and Christian Hood from BeastWare)[citation needed] were invited to participate in the White House Science Fair. New Zealand's Prime Minister, Hon. John Key sent Team OneBeep from New Zealand a personal letter that congratulated them on their third-place finish. Team Skeek from Thailand, winners of the 2010 Software Design competition, met Dr. Khunying Kalaya Sophonpanich, a member of Parliament and Secretary General of The Rajapruek Institute Foundation. Microsoft Poland and members of the European Parliament hosted the “Pushing the Boundaries of Innovation” conference in Brussels. Imagine Cup teams from Poland (fteams and Mutants), Serbia (TFZR), Germany (Mediator), and Belgium (Nom Nom Productions) were in attendance. Greek Imagine Cup winners, Giorgos Karakatsiotis and Vangos Pterneas, of Megadodo,[citation needed] met with the Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou, and demonstrated their project that creates personalized descriptions of museum exhibits based on the user's needs. Teams Xormis and Educ8 from Jamaica were honored with a special luncheon hosted by the Government of Jamaica that included an address from Hon. Bruce Golding, the prime minister. Team Think Green had the opportunity to meet with Ivo Josipović, President of Croatia.[49]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Tune in to Imagine Cup July 27 to see which team wins more than $200,000 in prizes - The Official Microsoft Blog". The Official Microsoft Blog. 2017-06-14. Retrieved 2017-07-24.
  2. ^ a b "Meet the 2022 Imagine Cup Champion: V Bionic". 2022-06-01.
  3. ^ "Imagine Cup official site". Imaginecup.com. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
  4. ^ "Meet the 2020 Imagine Cup World Champion: Team Hollo from Hong Kong SAR!". Imaginecup.com. 19 May 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  5. ^ "Meet the 2021 Imagine Cup World Champion: Team REWEBA from Kenya!". Imaginecup.com. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
  6. ^ "Meet the 2022 Imagine Cup Champion: V Bionic". Imaginecup.com. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  7. ^ "2023 Imagine Cup World Championship Winner Revealed!". Imaginecup.com. 23 May 2023. Retrieved 2023-05-23.
  8. ^ Imagine Cup (2010-09-01). "Imagine Cup Official Rules".
  9. ^ Imagine Cup (2010-09-01). "Imagine Cup Official Rules".
  10. ^ a b c Imagine Cup (2010-12-01). "Microsoft Presspass". Microsoft.
  11. ^ Imagine Cup (2005-08-01). "Microsoft Awards Student Technology Rock Stars at Imagine Cup 2005". Microsoft.
  12. ^ "Microsoft Announces Imagine Cup 2006 Winners" (Press release). 2006-08-11.
  13. ^ a b "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. 8 July 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  14. ^ Brett Winterford (2008-07-09). "ZDNet.com".
  15. ^ a b c d e Justin Robinson (2010-07-09). "Atomic.edu".
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  17. ^ a b "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  18. ^ "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. 11 July 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  19. ^ "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. August 2014. Retrieved 1 Aug 2014.
  20. ^ "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 4 Aug 2015.
  21. ^ "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  22. ^ "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  23. ^ "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. 25 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  24. ^ "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  25. ^ "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. 19 March 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  26. ^ "Press Release". Microsoft.
  27. ^ "Microsoft Announces Imagine Cup 2008 Winners". Microsoft.com. 2008-07-08. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  28. ^ "Interoperability Achievement Award Winners". Microsoft.com. 2008-12-11. Archived from the original on February 22, 2009.
  29. ^ "Imagine Cup 2008 Year Book" (PDF). Microsoft. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-10. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  30. ^ "Centrum Prasowe Microsoft". Microsoft.com. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  31. ^ "Egypt 09 Imagine Cup - The World's Premier Student Technology Competition" (PDF). Microsoft.com. 2009-07-07. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  32. ^ Lawton, Chuck (2010-07-09). "Imagine Cup 2010: The Winners!". Wired. Wired.com. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  33. ^ "Imagine Cup 2010 Yearbook". Microsoft.com. 2010-07-09. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  34. ^ Microsoft Thailand. "Imagine Cup Thailand". Microsoft.
  35. ^ "Imagine Cup 2012 Winners". www.imaginecup.com. 2012-07-12. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
  36. ^ The Nation Newspaper. "Imagine Cup Thailand".
  37. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Imagine Cup 2014 Winners". www.imaginecup.com. 2014-08-01. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
  38. ^ a b c d "Imagine Cup 2015 Winners". www.imaginecup.com. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
  39. ^ "Microsoft Announces Imagine Cup 2007 Winners". Microsoft.
  40. ^ "Microsoft's Imagine Cup 2012 Winners". www.pcmag.com. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
  41. ^ a b "Imagine Cup 2013 Winners". www.imaginecup.com. 2014-08-01. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
  42. ^ "Imagine Cup 2016 Winners". www.imaginecup.com. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
  43. ^ "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  44. ^ "Imagine Cup 2015 Winners". www.imaginecup.com. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  45. ^ Chuck Lawton (2010-07-26). "Wired.com". Wired.
  46. ^ BizSpark (2010-07-26). "BizSpark".
  47. ^ Microsoft (2010-10-27). "Microsoft on the Issues Blog".
  48. ^ "Educate to Innovate: The White House Science Fair Kickoff". HuffPost. 20 October 2010.
  49. ^ Microsoft (2010-10-04). "Imagine Cup Croatia". Microsoft.

External links edit

 
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