Imagine more than 350,000 students from 183 countries competing to solve some of the world’s most daunting problems. Imagine these 358,000 students using technology to combat disease, improve education, create disaster communication systems, empower people with disabilities, and promote environmental sustainability.
Now imagine 400 of these students, from 70 countries, competing at the Worldwide Finals in New York City for a six-day celebration of technology, creativity, and problem-solving. Have the image in mind? Now watch this video to see how it looked:
Since 2003, the Microsoft Imagine Cup has provided students an opportunity to solve global challenges through creativity, passion, and their understanding of technology. This year, Microsoft also announced plans to launch a $3 million competitive grant program to help recipients realize their vision for solving some of the world’s toughest problems.
"Imagine Cup is a great way of giving you the means and the access to create the breakthroughs of tomorrow," said Dr. Fiona Wood, director of Royal Perth Hospital Burn Unit
This global competition has been held for ten years now, and other tech companies have been supporting competitions like this — but this year, things are different. We find ourselves at a tipping point. Technology has permeated virtually every part of our economy and society, giving it the ability to revolutionize and change the way we do everything. Technology is transforming business, finance, farming, banking, disaster relief, health, education, law, commerce, and governance, and the list goes on.
Corporate philanthropy activities, like the Imagine Cup, can help identify and transform world-changing innovations that take advantage of technology into sustainable and scalable businesses. Their support is critical to unleashing their potential and providing opportunities for innovators around the globe.
“The innovators, entrepreneurs, and humanitarians who compete in the Imagine Cup have developed an inspiring spectrum of projects, raising the bar higher and higher each year,” said S. Somasegar, senior vice president, Developer Division of Microsoft. “We are in awe of the students’ solutions for addressing social and real-world challenges, and want to help them take their projects to the next level with the financial, technical, and business support they need to change the world.”
While there were 11 winners in five categories, a few stood out from the rest.
This year’s Software Design winner was Team Hermes, of Ireland, with a device that plugs into a car and monitors dangerous driving behavior and road conditions, providing instant feedback to the driver and the car owner.
Team NTHUCS from Taiwan came in first place in the Embedded Development category, with their project RIGHT! This Way, which computes the safest fire escape routes, detected by a wireless sensor network in real time.
This year’s competition also uncovered a few interesting trends. Environmental concerns were prominent, with 24 percent of worldwide finalist projects, and 60 percent of game design projects tackling environmental issues.
In the game design category, there were three subcategories – all winners focused on environmental sustainability in some fashion. Twenty-three percent of projects addressed various aspects of natural disaster relief, and 22 percent of projects focused on improving the lives of people with disabilities through mobile technologies.
Beyond revealing brilliant new ideas and energizing young people to tap the potential of science and technology for improving their world, it is becoming clear that there is a growing ecosystem around social innovation, and technology is at the center of it. This is no longer the “wave of the future” – it is the reality of today.
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