The Imagine Cup competition is gaining momentum throughout Europe. This year more than 61,000 students from 412 European schools, colleges and universities are participating. The top-five participating European countries are France, Germany, Poland, Romania and the UK. Last year, one-third of the teams that made the final rounds and more than half of the global winning teams were from Europe. The Imagine Cup 2004 was won by the team from France, which created a program for a digital home called SmartCenter.net, an application that can manage common household tasks such as opening and closing windows and turning lights on and off. Winning the 2004 competition encouraged the team to launch their own company, for which they are currently securing additional funding.
This year, through an in-depth presentation and hands-on demonstration, the Slovenian team were able to show how their winning project will use technology to help dissolve boundaries between people. The Slovenian team developed EthnoCon, which combines GPS navigation, wireless internet access, cameras, microphones and embedded systems with an intuitive software interface. EthnoCon's primary purpose is to connect users by reducing and eliminating the boundaries caused by differences in culture, language and location.
The Greek team won second place with Sign2Talk, developed to address the challenges people with hearing loss experience by translating American Sign Language (ASL) into speech and vice-versa. The third place award went to the Serbia and Montenegro team's project, Just a Drop Away, which draws on the power of integrated technology to improve efficiency throughout the cycle of a medical emergency from the moment the accident occurs to the arrival at the hospital with the overall goal of reducing fatalities.
The six other teams participating in the Eastern European competition were representing Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Ukraine.
- The Bulgarian team's project, the SmaPCon system, takes PowerPoint presentations to a new level by providing more comprehensive remote control features, tightly integrating the presenter and the audience, including people who are hearing impaired and offering greater color calibration features.
- The Croatian team developed the easyParking system, which identifies the nearest free parking spaces, conveys the status of parking spaces in a specified district, includes a smart component that remembers users' parking preferences and provides statistics to parking companies.
- The Hungarian team developed an application called MeetU(C), which draws on Bluetooth(TM) capable Windows Mobile 2003-based Smart phones to introduce people who share a common range of interests.
- The Polish team developed Arctic Mary, a technologically advanced refrigerator that keeps track of upcoming expiration dates on perishable goods, reminds people when they're about to run out of something, suggests dishes that can please vegetarians and carnivores, automatically generates shopping lists and makes suggestions for a healthy lifestyle.
- The Romanian team developed LocalPoint, a three-tier solution with a service-oriented architecture that facilitates communication between smart device users and location-specific services in the user's vicinity to suggest itineraries based on the user's profile.
- The Ukrainian team's project, Common Knowledge Community (CKC), is designed to attract people interested in the natural sciences to mathematical studies by providing facilities for collaborative problem solving, storing and sharing of mathematical knowledge and hosting mathematical games.
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Imagine Cup finals in Yokohama, Japan. The final competition will consist of nine invitationals: software design, short film, rendering, algorithm, visual gaming, office design, IT business plan, IT and web development.
"At Microsoft, we understand the critical importance of investing in today's youth, who are the innovators of the future," said Manoj Rami, lead marketing manager with Microsoft's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Developer and Platform Evangelism Group. "The theme for this year's competition -- imagine a world where technology dissolves boundaries -- was selected because of its relevance to the technology of the future, which will indeed dissolve boundaries. Microsoft is proud to invest in the students who participate in this year's Imagine Cup competition, who will play an important role in developing technology that unites individuals and groups around the world in the future."
The Imagine Cup competition is the result of close collaboration between Microsoft and universities throughout Europe. The purpose of the competition is to help student programmers develop innovative technologies that will in turn improve their future business and career opportunities. The competition, according to Microsoft, is one of the ways that the company is investing in Europe's future, that will encourage development of innovative technologies that help individuals and organizations realize their potential.
Rami added that teams from Europe that have participated in the Imagine Cup in previous years have brought a proven talent for innovation to the competition. In 2004, more than half of the teams that made it to the final competition, which was won by France, were from Europe while the majority heralded from Eastern Europe. With increased registration for this year's Imagine Cup and the promise to win part of the $215,000 (US) prize award, this year is proving to be the best year yet according to Rami. "Throughout Europe there is a passion for innovation," he said. "By working closely with universities across Europe, all of us at Microsoft are privileged to play a role in helping tomorrow's technology leaders have an enriching, rewarding learning experience."
