Imagine Cup Australia : finalists

2008 Australian Imagine Cup Finals to be held in Melbourne @ Remix

ausic — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:33:00 GMT

Following the success of last years Imagine cup software design finals, Remix has again been chosen as the event/venue for this years battle ground. With 4 teams competing for glory and the chance to travel to France to compete in the world finals, this years competition is going to deliver some amazing results.

The world’s premier student technology competition, Imagine Cup is one way Microsoft is encouraging young people to apply their imagination, passion and creativity to technology innovations that can make a difference in the world today. Now in its sixth year, Imagine Cup has grown to be a truly global competition focused on finding solutions to real-world issues. More than 100,000 students from over 100 countries have entered rising to this year’s challenge - “Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment."

The finals will be held on the 22nd of May, the judging will take place @ the Microsoft Office in Melbourne and the winners will be announced @ Remix. For more information please contact t-karoes@microsoft.

Interview with Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals Winner

ausic — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 05:20:00 GMT

(This article is cross posted to my main blog, http://blogs.msdn.com/msozacademic)

I recently came into contact with Prachaya Phaisanwiphatpong (a member of the 2007 Imagine Cup World finals winning team from Thailand) via this blog for a chat. After emailing back and forth a bit, 'Badd' (his nickname) agreed to answer a few questions about his experiences at the world finals.

I remember watching his team's final presentation of 'Live Book' (their Imagine Cup entry) at the finals in Korea. It was very impressive in it's sheer simplicity - whilst there were more technically complex entries in the Imagine Cup World Finals, Live Book is an excellent example of a single problem solved thoroughly and expertly. Using a slick, highly intuitive user interface, Live Book quite simply helps people learn to read. The program allows users to scan or photograph books / documents, and then uses OCR to pull pictures of keywords in the scanned text from the web to give the user hints as to what the words are and to make the text more interesting.

The team with their trophies at the 2007 world finals in Korea.

If you're interested in the Imagine Cup, or are entering this year, read on and see how Prachaya Phaisanwiphatpong feels about his Imagine Cup journey last year and his feelings on the BT Innovation Accelerator.

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N: Congratulations on the IC2007 world finals win. I was impressed with your entry, particularly the rich user experience. For those who haven't yet seen it, give us an overview of what your entry does and what technologies were used.

P: Live Book is a project which will turn any textbooks into graphical and attractive one by capture real-time frame from a web camera. Imagine this, when young children cannot read textbook, they put that book in front of the web camera. Live Book software will detect and recognize the word on the book. If there's a word 'apple', there will be images and videos of apple floating over the word, and Text-to-speech technology will read the word aloud. It aims to motivate and encourage young children to learn more from any textbooks without limitation in their reading skill. Also, it directly helps illiterate people to learn reading. Main technologies we used are our invented fast-and-tremble supported OCR, WPF for doing graphical rendering, and SpeechAPI.

Screenshot 1

N: How was the BT Innovation Accelerator program? What sort of things do they do with you there?

P: Innovation Accelerator program is very a valuable experience for us. We learned business concept, the process to turn prototype into product and participate with many organization. We worked with real business professional, create a business plan and practise business presentation. In the program, we share experiences among six different countries, which each of them has an unique style of work. The lecture consist of both business and technical content. We found a good chance to see real pitch from real entrepreneur asking investment from real Venture Capital in silicon valley and listen to the success entrepreneur from previous ICIA as well.

Visit IC IA blog at : http://www.imaginecupaccelerator.com/ There are notes for many activities that we've done there.

N: Whilst on the topic of entrepreneurial-ism, there's some big success stories coming out of Imagine Cup. The 2007 Australian Finals winning team is about to hand their entry over to non-profit organisation Vision Australia to help blind people learn how to become software developers. What's next for 3KC? Have any big business opportunities opened up since the IC World Finals?

P: There are many contacts in Thailand non-profit organisation, but we didn't decide about it yet. We takes time to learn more and carefully decide to what to do when we graduated in the next few month. (Right now, we are in the last year of undergraduated study)

N: Fair enough. Your team also won a share in US$25,000. What did you spend it all on?

P: Some of us spent for invest in their current IT business. Some invests in stock market. For me, I spent with my extended family business. Yes, we love investment.

N - Having been through the process of preparing an entry for Imagine Cup, list 3 factors that you see as being crucial to success for those who are entering in 2008.

P: I will answer this with the Imagine Cup worldwide final standard. The most important factor is "sharp idea". Every entries in Imagine Cup world final are well developed and their software are well implemented. The crucial point that make each entries different is a benefit that the software will provide. The great software will directly solve the current problem in a practical and innovative way. It make an impact to the world, not just only relate or address current problem and not solve them.

The second factor is "team". If you didn't have a right team, no matter how excellent your idea is, your people will mess it up. Make sure each member has potential in their responsible function and make sure every members in team understand the idea and set goal in the same way. So, you can refine your idea and build the prototype to demonstrate your idea.

The last factor is "communication". We need to make sure that the audience, user and judge panel understand our idea correctly. Make them understand the problem clearly, your innovative way to solve and the impact. It's very important to control the audience, to make them understand everything clearly. So, they will get the accurate information within 10-15 minutes presentation, and will ask only relevant question. These three factors are the most crucial factor for me.

Screenshot 2

N: If you were entering Software Design again in 2008, what sort of world problems would you be trying to solve, given the theme is "Sustainable environment"?

P: Personally, I think it is Global Warming. However, global warming is quite very large problem and there's a lot of specific problem to solve. I will take much time to research for the top three largest portion that cause global warming, and select one of them reasonably.

N: I think you're right - this year, the teams that will do well will be the one's who can take a large, complex and address certain parts of that. You're not going to save the world in one swoop, but together we can make a very good start. Okay, let's wrap it up... finish the following sentences:

i) My favourite technology is... Internet

ii) My favourite website is... Google.com

iii) My dream job is... owning the largest and most successful software business in Thailand

iv) The best thing about winning the IC world finals was... telling the world that Thailand is the best (at least for IC2007)

v) You can tell alot about a person from their workspace. At home, my desk is... very clean

vi) At work / uni, my desk is...clean (But for my laptop desktop, OMG, it's terrible. you don't want to see it!)

vii) If I were entering IC08, the one thing I'd do different is... I would be a mentor instead. (because there's IC rule, they don't allow me to compete in software design anymore. so, I cannot be winner twice)

viii) At the closing party for the Imagine Cup world finals in Korea, I was...very fun in the bar

Thanks for your time, Badd. Please keep us posted as to how you go with your future endeavours.

- Nick

Wrap up - Day 2 of World Finals

ausic — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 01:35:00 GMT

The second day of proceedings saw actual competition begin. The day went like this - 55 teams are put in an exhibition hall, where they each get a booth to set up their entries and show them off to attendees and the media. They are then chosen one by one to present to one of four panels of judges in a private room (and will repeat the same tomorrow). This makes it very interesting to see some of the dynamics in the room. Whilst a few teams were obviously being very guarded about their entries, most students and their mentors were really interested in what other teams were doing and in showing off their own entries. The second day of proceedings saw actual competition begin. The day went like this - 55 teams are put in an exhibition hall, where they each get a booth to set up their entries and show them off to attendees and the media. They are then chosen one by one to present to one of four panels of judges in a private room (and will repeat the same tomorrow). This makes it very interesting to see some of the dynamics in the room. Whilst a few teams were obviously being very guarded about their entries, most students and their mentors were really interested in what other teams were doing and in showing off their own entries.

1. Got Tech? Techno Mart has 2000 stalls, including 3 levels dedicated almost exclusively to cameras and mp3 players. If you look really closely at the bottom of the screen, you can see two go-go dancers dancing out the front and trying to get customers to come in. Wow.

One thing I didn't realise about the Imagine Cup world finals is that there is a hidden, unofficial category called 'Pimp My Booth'. Whilst there is the odd hand drawn poster (obviously caught out by the same lack of prior knowledge about booth battles as I was), on the whole people were going to alot of trouble to trick their booths out. But I have to say, the Aussie team did make the largest impression with their blind kangaroo mascot! He was by far the most popular guy there! I wonder how many blog posts will he pop up in?

2. & 3. The Aussie Booth at various times during the day

Talking to a few teams about their entries, there were a few comon themes. Primarily, entries either a) made education more accessible through mobile devices / web servers / automation or b) aimed to help blind people or c) just downright looked cool. There were alot of very interesting entries, and honestly, I couldn't pick a winner from the ones I saw. Great quality. Here's a quick sample:

4. Bright background plus dark foreground equals bad photo. It's always amazing to see entries that already look set to go to market. Austria developed some apps for SmartBoard type devices that had everyone stopping at their booth to ask questions. The most interesting thing about it was it's highly unique user interface - you get an artist's 'palate' which you hold in your hand and is your key to a large variety of different commands and functions. You tap the stylus on diferent parts of the palate to activate different functions. Looking part Surface, part education tool, I think this thing has much broader applications than just education. Using more than one stylus, you can collaboratively work on the same workspace, and it reminds me a little bit of the WaCom graphics tablets that are running Expression, so I think designers and engineers are going to be all over this thing.

5. Romania's entry - "Knowledge Sense" - claims to be a modern version of the encyclopedia. Using natural language queries and an intuitive, interactive interface, users can reportedly ask the app just about any question you can think of. I wanted to ask it how to get my towels extra soft when I wash them, but I didn't get a chance to try it out.

6. I'm a very visual person plus I like gadgets, so alot of the entries that wowed me the most were the ones that integrated hardware and software. The Pakistan team invented a system for multi-point video recording of lectures. Their system automatically moves the camera to track a lecturer as they move around the room. Once the session is finished, the system automatically does a quick edit of the lecture, then uploads it to a web server, and sends alerts out to users that new content has been added. Another cool feature is that they have used directional microphones that can detect which general side of the room a question is coming from if a student asks questions a question during the lecture since, as the team points out, the learning experience is not all about the lecturer.

7. I also had a quick look at the Embedded Design category, but the day's proceedings had finished by the time I got there. But I did snap the odd photo (and I do mean odd - like extreme net surfing requiring a bike helmet ;) ) of a few entries there and in the Interface Design category.... I'll get some photos up in my next post of some of the better entries.

The Australian team presented last to a panel of (I think) very tired judges. I wasn't allowed to take photos during the presentation as per the contest rules, but the team did very well. As you might recall, they have developed a tool for helping blind people program. So for me, the coolest part of the presentation was when they cover the screen and do some cding on the fly. Phil, who was driving the demo, even made a mistake, with a button overlaping a field in a simple logon form, but was able to rectify it without looking at the screen, which is a tribute to the usability of this app.

Finally, dinner was crazy - 800 odd software designers in a room getting their grub on! In a big hall in the SHeraton with chefs in tall hats buzzing in and out of the crod wih plates of hot food. My photos don't justice to just how cool and impressive a job the event organisers have done and how rad a place Korea is. Went to the W-Hotel lobby for a quick drink (geez thats a swank place) then hit the sack around 1am for a 6am start.

I also had a quick look at the Embedded Design category, but the day's proceedings had finished by the time I got there. But I did snap the odd photo (and I do mean odd - see below) of a few entries.... I'll get some photos up in my next post of some of the better entries.

First day of the Finals - or at least the 3 hours we saw of it.

ausic — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 17:57:00 GMT

The world finals began today in Korea and already the team from UC have lost some members. Nothing like a hapless airline to break a team apart. Due to massive incompetence on behalf of Australia's major airline (I'm as subtle as a sledgehammer), the team got split up at Sydney airport. So some of us are already here, whilst others are still in transit or in Sydney. Luckily there was no competition today. But thats a whole other complaint letter!

1&2. Microsoft know how to throw a party, yep yep! The hotel where Imagine Cup is being held.

We're here, and this is one of the coolest sights I've ever seen. 2 WHOLE HOTELS BOOKED OUT FULL OF SOFTWARE DEVELOPER STUDENTS. Yeh, 2 hotels. And I'm not talking Formule1 either - Sheraton and W Hotel ain't no joke. There's full size bottles of Chivas Regal and Remi Martin in the minibar for chrissakes!

It's amazing the amount of stuff thats going on as I walk through the hotels. From the chill out lounge with the fully stocked fridge full of free coke / ice tea / water / lolly water and 6 player xbox360 to the sheer size of the main hall, I think this could be the most excited I've been about anything since Jay-Z announced his retirement (language warning on that last link). If you are a software design / computing science student thinking of joining Imagine CUp next year, DO IT! I'm so stoked on IC right now and everyone is having so much fun! And the realy interesting stuff hasn't even started yet.

Tomorrow sees the kick off of the actual competition, which is probably what most of the reaaders of this blog would be interested in. Participants will then be culled from around 55 teams to the final 12. Then we have a day's sightseeing on Wednesday (topped of by dinner with the mayor of Seoul and lunch at the Seoul Olympics Gym). The final 12 teams duke it out further on the Thursday, then we wrap things up on Friday with a party! Heck yeh! Well deserved too to the students. There's some good work here this year.

Anyways, I could type all night I'm so excited but I had better pack this one in here - I have to go and organise a ride for the other team members from Incheon airport to the hotel due to our planned flights being overbooked. Thanks QANTAS!

Imagine Cup World Finals are closing in...

ausic — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 06:58:00 GMT

From next week, the world's top software design students will all converge on Korea to a) battle it out for the IC Crown and b) hopefully have the time of their life.

I'll be escorting the team from University of Canberra and their mentor, Dr. Dat Tran to Sheraton Grande Walkerhill, in Seoul,Korea. I've heard rumours that 250 students have been recruited by our Korean subsidiary to how the teams a good time. Hot damn it's gonna be fun. Once we get to Seoul, we will be meeting up with our Australian judge, Mr Nick Randolph, to take on the world. Thanks again for volunteering Nick R.

I've been having a stickybeak at other countries entries over the past weeks (EG. 1, 2), and golly! it's gonna be cool. (Yeh, I can't actually believe I wrote 'golly!' either). For those who will be attending, I'm looking forward to meeting you all, for those who didn't make it this year, registration will be open for next year's competition as soon as the world finals are finished. In the meantime, i'll have regular updates here and on Channel 8 as the competition hots up.

University of Canberra are going to the Imagine Cup world finals - again.

ausic — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 02:27:00 GMT

Get ready - this one's a long one.

For the second year running, the University of Canberra (UC) has taken out the Australian Imagine Cup finals. Special mention must be made of the efforts that the uni's School of Information Sciences and Engineering faculty members (in particular Dr. Dat Tran and Dr. Dhamendra Sharma) put into supporting those teams that enter the Imagine Cup each year (2 teams from UC made it into the Oz finals this year). UC has a very strong focus on the student experience, which is fantastic to see. Also in attendance was a team from Queensland University of Technology (QUT), mentored by Dr. On Wong (who is one of the friendliest guys I've ever met and who educated me on exactly what it is that makes tall people tall). It was great to meet you all and shoot the breeze, aswell as see your entries this year.

"Team APA" took out proceedings this year with an entry that got the developers in the audience jumping out of their seats in excitement. Charles Sterling (Microsoft Developer Evangelist and Imagine Cup judge) virtually skipped out of the room after judging their entry. OK, maybe not, but it was an exciting entry. 'APA' is a tool for helping blind people develop in C#.NET. No easy task by any stretch of the Imagination.

Team APA were not clear cut winners though (despite how good their entry was) - after all teams had presented and as the judges were discussing a winner, I really had no idea who would take out the Australian finals and go on to compete for glory (and a share in AU$40k) at the world finals in Korea. We had three very distinctive entries compete in the Australian finals this year, and each had their own unique strengths (wow, I sound like I'm trying to build self-esteem in Kindergarten kids - "you are all special in your own way"). In all seriousness, judging was TIGHT! Having long ago turned away from the good side (geeky techy stuff) and gravitating more towards the dark side (the business side of things) I was focused more on which entries had more commercial viability, so if I was a judge, I would have chosen 'Smart Education' (UC) or 'Question & Answer Technology' (QUT) (more details on these entries found here). But thats why I'm not a judge. Team APA stuck with the Imagine Cup ethos - Imagine Cup is all about imagining a better world, and when there is 70% unemployment and incredible hardship amongst blind people, empowering blind people to become programmers is an extremely worthwhile aim.

After the dust had settled and the winners had been announced at the start of the final panel at ReMix07 (which was, by the way, deadset fabtabulous), the entrants and a motley crew of other Microsoft and Imagine Cup dignitaries went and chilled in Tonic Bar at Crown Promenade before their stretched limo's (yep, thats how we do it with the Imagine Cup) arrived to pick the entrants up and take them back to the airport. I know some of the students were a bit disappointed they wouldn't go to Korea, but please guys, take heart in knowing you are the top university software programmers in Australia, which is a great effort.

Finally, I need to thank the judges. Tony Sarno, editor of APC magazine, volunteered to join the judging panel and his account of the finals is an interesting read. He gave alot of support to Imagine Cup this year, and his help is much appreciated.

I'd also like to make a very special mention of Mr Tony Lupton, Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation and local member for Prahran (Victoria). Mr Lupton made time in his (very) busy schedule to come and act as a judge, which is a great indication of his support for his portfolio and his desire to support ongoing innovation through education. His presence was much appreciated and added considerable value to proceedings.

To the lads - Coatesy (Andrew Coates) and Chuck (Charles Sterling), both Microsoft developer evangelists - thanks for jumping at the chance to be judges this year. Great to see such enthusiastic support for students and the Imagine Cup from within the Microsoft organisation, especially when developer evangelists have so many commitments and responsibilities.

And finally Shahed Khan, pro developer and Microsoft most valued professional. Shahed jumped on board at the very start of Imagine Cup 07 wanting to mentor a team. We didn't have a team in the area he lives, but his enthusiasm was such that I knew we'd have to make him a judge. Thanks Shahed.

Thanks to all involved - photos have been delayed but will soon follow (I loaned my camera to our PR team yesterday afternoon), and next year's theme will be announced soon (you'll know about it all the sooner if you subscribe - http://blogs.msdn.com/ausic/rss.xml) so you can get an early jump on proceedings. If you're a tertiary student and are interested in entering next year, keep an eye out for an IC launch in a uni near you in second semester this year, check out www.imaginecup.com for worldwide details, subscribe to this blog or email me t-nice@microsoft.com.

Nick