Imagine Cup 2014: Meet the innovative winners
Imagine Cup, Microsoft’s premier global technology competition for college and university students, has produced a wealth of apps and other tech solutions that will help us better work and play.
An app that helps detect anaemia through selfies. An app that helps track and schedule real meet-ups with friends. And a gaming app in which you have to restore electricity to a futuristic world that has gone black.
These three were the winning student projects of Imagine Cup 2014, a year-long competition that started with 33,000 students worldwide. The 34 final student teams — the creme de la creme of student technologists, developers and aspiring entrepreneurs — converged in Seattle’s last week for the Imagine Cup World Championship.
And on August 1, in front of an audience of 5,000 people at Washington State Convention Center, the judges picked the three winning teams. The overall champion was Australia’s Team Eyenaemia, which also won Imagine Cup’s “world citizenship” category. The winner of the “games” category was Team Brainy Studio for their gaming app, “Turn On,” and the winner of the “innovation category” was Team Estimeet.
Check out this global map of all 34 finalist teams and their projects.
“Turn On” Available on Windows Phone
While these student projects are works in progress, Brainy Studio’s “Turn On” app is already available as a demo. Download it here — it is truly an immersive gaming experience!
Each of the winning teams received $50,000 and Team Eyenaemia will also get a private mentoring session from Bill Gates and an invitation to work with Microsoft YouthSpark, a global tech and entrepreneurship initiative that aims to help 300-million youth in three years.
Imagine Cup Expansion
The reach of the competition is profound: More than 1.7 million students have competed in Imagine Cup over its 12-year history, and next year, pre-collegiate students may also have the chance to participate. We’ll let you know more once plans have been finalized!
“There is not a business, vertical industry or person on the planet untouched by technology,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, underscoring the need for the competition.
“Imagine Cup empowers students to hack tough problems, while learning and building off the work of others,” he added. “Student developers play a huge role in bringing new technologies to life in a mobile-first, cloud-first world. Congratulations to all the competitors for their hard work and creativity.”
After looking at the 34 final student projects, which of their apps or other tech solutions would you love to use?