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 in size, with more than 358,000 competitors representing 183 countries and regions in 2011. The Imagine Cup worldwide finals have been held all over the globe. The Imagine Cup 2017 worldwide Finals was held in Seattle, United States.[2][3]
History
The Imagine Cup began in 2003 with approximately 1,000 competitors from 25 countries and regions and has grown to more than 358,000 competitors representing 183 countries and regions in 2011. The Imagine Cup worldwide finals have been held all over the globe. Since 2014, the Imagine Cup World Finals have 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 Register to take part
Imagine Cup Winners[4]
Competition structure
All Imagine Cup competitors create projects that address the Imagine Cup theme: “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.”
Competitions:
- 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.[5]
- Game Design: The Game Design Competition challenges participants to create a new game that illustrates the Imagine Cup theme.[6]
Winners
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
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | Aymeric Gaurat Apelli Francois Beaussier Guillaume Belmas Vincent Vergonjeanne |
Eleni Korkontzila Dimitrios Bisias Styliani Taplidou Nikolaos Trichakis | |
2005 | |||
2006[9] | Giorgio Sardo Massimo Paternoster Silvia Perrone Andrea Sossich |
Carlos Rodrigues Ivan Cardim Madson Menezes |
Jan-Kristian Markiewicz Gøran Hansen Hans Olav Norheim Jonas Follesø |
2007 | Prachaya Phaisanwiphatpong Vasan Chienmaneetaweesin Jatupon Sukkasem Pathompol Saeng-Uraiporn | ||
2008[10] | David Burela Edward Hooper Dimaz Pramudnya Long Zheng |
Dusan Zelenik Jakub Simko Michal Kompan Marian Honsch | |
2009 | Adrian Buzgar Calin Juravle Andreas Resios |
Maxim Bovykin Sergey Fedorov Denis Gnatyuk Alexey Klishin | |
2010[12] | Krithee Sirisith Pichai Sodsai Thanasunn Dilokpinitnun Nonthawat Srichad |
Zlatibor Veljković Milan Kojadinović Goran Nikolić Vanja Zavišin |
Vinny Lohan Steve Ward Kayo Lakadia Chanyeol Yoo |
2011[13] | James McNamara Calum Cawley Matthew Padden Aine Conaghan |
Qian Yan Shashank Srinivas David Hayden Michael Astrauskas |
Yousef Wadi Mohammad Azzam Monir Abu Hilal Hani Abu Huwaij |
2012[14] | Stepanov Anton Posternikov Anton Osika Maxim Jasakov Valery | ||
2013[15] | |||
2014[16] | |||
2015[17] | |||
2016[18] | |||
2017[19] | |||
2018[20] | |||
2019[21] | Bryan Chiang |
Bharat Sundal |
Ferdinand Loesch Choon Kiat Lee Sachin Sriskanda |
Office Designer
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2005[23] | Andre Furtado Adeline Silva Madson Menezes Raony Araujo |
Sergey Dubovi Pavel Zadumkin Dmitry Kozlov Anastasiya Filinova |
Liu Teifeng Yang Yongzhi He Cong Yang Lizhen |
Embedded Development Competition
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | Andre Furtado | ||
2008 | |||
2009 | |||
2010 [12] | |||
2011 [13] |
Interoperability Challenge
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Sameet Singh Khajuria Karun AB Amith George Noel Sequeira |
Carlos Eduardo Rodrigues Eduardo Sonnino Renato Ferreira Roberto Sonnino |
Dariusz Walczak Marcin Wrzos Piotr Sikora Tomasz Nowak |
2009 [28] | Amirton Chagas Flavio Almeida Joao Paulo Oliveira Santos Lucas Mello |
Mohammed Y. Eshbeata Laith Dawahir Wassim Shehadeh |
Tomasz Ciejka Grzegorz Glonek Jacek Pintera Krzysztof Szokal-Egird |
2010 [29][30] | Shawn Mclean Derron Brown Dwayne Samuels Markel Mairs |
Hugo Rodrigues Edmiel Leandro Daniel Ferreira Eduardo Sonnino |
Yudha Antawiryawan Kania Audrint Anggunmeka Luhur Prasasti Widyara Desgita |
2011 [13] | Giorgos Karakatsiotis Vangos Pterneas |
Daniel Ferreira Lucas Mello Amirton Chagas Joao Paulo dos Santos Oliveira |
Lukasz Michniewicz Szymon Majewski Marek Banaszak Magdalena Dudarska |
Game Design
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Rafael Costa |
Kenny Deriemaeker |
Dong HoonKim |
2009 | Luciano José |
||
2010 [12] | |||
2011 Mobile[13] | Pierre Elias | ||
2011 Web[13] | Thomas Tiam-Lee |
||
2011 Windows/Xbox[13] | |||
2012 Windows/Xbox[32] | |||
2014[34] | |||
2015 [35] | |||
2016 |
IT Challenge
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2005 | |||
2006 | |||
2007 [36] | |||
2008 [10] | |||
2009 | |||
2010[12] | |||
2011 [13] |
Digital Media
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2010[12] | |||
2011 [13] |
Windows Phone
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2011 [13] | Tristan Gibeau Cy Khormaee Wilson To Jason Wakizaka |
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2012 [14] | Nour El-Dien Hussein Muhammad El-Orabi Kariem El-Shazly |
Karol Stosik |
Apurva Jaiswal Irena Prochkova Gitanjali Sachdeva Maimuna Syed |
Windows 7 Touch Challenge
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2011 [13] | Anthony Froissant José Martins |
World Citizenship Competition
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2013 [37] | |||
2014 [34] | Matthew McCann Jack Gallagher KC Grant Donal McClean | ||
2015 [35] | |||
2016 [38] |
Innovation Competition
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2013[39] | Robert Parker Alex Bochenski Jonathan Neumann Edward Noel |
||
2014[34] | Hayden Do Jason Wei Chris Duan Derek Zhu |
||
2015 [35] | |||
2016 [40] |
AppCampus Award
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2014 [34] |
Skype Award
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2014 [34] | Drive Social Impact Learning and Education |
Visual Studio Online Boost
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2014 [34] |
|
Apps For Office Challenge
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2014 [34] |
Windows & Windows Phone Challenge
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2014 [34] |
User Experience Challenge
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2014 [34] | World Citizenship
|
Pitch Video Challenge
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2014 [34] | World Citizenship |
||
2015 [35] | World Citizenship |
Project Blueprint Challenge
Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
2014 [34] | World Citizenship |
Innovation Accelerator
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 2006–2008, 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.[41] With this program, startups receive access to current, full-featured software development tools and platforms.[42]
Previous teams include:
Imagine Cup Grant
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.
Recognition
Imagine Cup participants from around the world who won their regional competitions in 2010 have been recognized by their government leaders.[43] In October 2010, two Imagine Cup 2010 United States finalists (Wilson To [44] from the Mobilifeteam and Christian Hood from BeastWare) 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, 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.[45]
References
- "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.
- "Welcome to Imagine Cup 2015!". 2014-09-02.
- "Imagine Cup official site". Imaginecup.com. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
- Microsoft Imagine Cup Winners https://imaginecup.microsoft.com/en-us/winners
- Imagine Cup (2010-09-01). "Imagine Cup Official Rules".
- Imagine Cup (2010-09-01). "Imagine Cup Official Rules".
- Imagine Cup (2010-12-01). "Microsoft Presspass".
- Imagine Cup (2005-08-01). "Microsoft Awards Student Technology Rock Stars at Imagine Cup 2005".
- "Microsoft Announces Imagine Cup 2006 Winners" (Press release). 2006-08-11.
- "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
- Brett Winterford (2008-07-09). "ZDNet.com".
- Justin Robinson (2010-07-09). "Atomic.edu".
- "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
- "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
- "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
- "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 1 Aug 2014.
- "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 4 Aug 2015.
- "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
- "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
- "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
- "Press Release".
- "Microsoft Announces Imagine Cup 2008 Winners". Microsoft.com. 2008-07-08. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
- "Interoperability Achievement Award Winners". Microsoft.com. 2008-12-11. Archived from the original on February 22, 2009.
- "Imagine Cup 2008 Year Book" (PDF). Microsoft. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-10. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
- "Centrum Prasowe Microsoft". Microsoft.com. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
- "Egypt 09 Imagine Cup - The World's Premier Student Technology Competition" (PDF). Microsoft.com. 2009-07-07. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
- "IMAGINE CUP 2010: THE WINNERS!". Wired.com. 2010-07-09. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
- "Imagine Cup 2010 Yearbook". Microsoft.com. 2010-07-09. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
- Microsoft Thailand. "Imagine Cup Thailand".
- "Imagine Cup 2012 Winners". www.imaginecup.com. 2012-07-12. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
- The Nation Newspaper. "Imagine Cup Thailand".
- "Imagine Cup 2014 Winners". www.imaginecup.com. 2014-08-01. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
- "Imagine Cup 2015 Winners". www.imaginecup.com. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
- "Microsoft Announces Imagine Cup 2007 Winners". Microsoft.
- "Imagine Cup 2013 Winners". www.imaginecup.com. 2014-08-01. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
- "Imagine Cup 2016 Winners". www.imaginecup.com. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
- "Press Release". Microsoft News Center. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
- "Imagine Cup 2015 Winners". www.imaginecup.com. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
- Chuck Lawton (2010-07-26). "Wired.com".
- BizSpark (2010-07-26). "BizSpark".
- Microsoft (2010-10-27). "Microsoft on the Issues Blog".
- https://huffingtonpost.com/wilson-to/educate-to-innovate-white_b_768829.html
- Microsoft (2010-10-04). "Imagine Cup Croatia".
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Imagine Cup. |