Canadian students get a chance to strut their stuff at Imagine Cup

Microsoft Canada is hosting Canadian finals this year for the Imagine Cup, a worldwide technology competition for students. Do you know someone who might be interested?

Have you heard about Imagine Cup? This is the worldwide competition organized by Microsoft where students from around the world use technology to try and solve some of the worlds problems. Students choose the problem they want to solve.

• Could text recognition software on a windows phone help someone with dyslexia?
• Can we build a stronger First Nations community with Kinect sensors and cameras connecting different bands?
• Can we help the local food bank spread the word on what they need restocking on their shelves with an Azure service that can be accessed by phone applications or screen displays at the local grocery stores?
• Can we find an easier way to determine if water is safe to drink?
• Can we predict the spread of malaria through mosquitos so we can take preventive measures?

The world is faced with so many problems, big and small, and we have a world of technology at our fingertips. Technology that in the past was only available in high end research labs is now accessible to all of us through smart phones and Kinect! Now we ask students to use this incredible technology to solve a problem and this year, we’re going to shine the spotlight brighter than ever on Canadian students with our Canadian Imagine Cup!

Last year 400 students from 70 countries participated in the WorldWide Finals. This year Canada will be one at the World Finals in Sydney, Australia! The top 3 Canadian teams who enter the Software Design Competition will travel to Toronto for the Canadian finals. They will present their projects on stage and a panel of judges will be faced with the difficult task of selecting a team to move forward to the WorldWide Finals in Australia. The top 3 Canadian teams in the Game Design: Phone competition will also be brought to Toronto for the finals to showcase their games and could win mentorship opportunities, windows phones, and if selected by the international judging committee they too could attend the world finals (we can’t choose who goes to world finals in this category, that’s just how it works). Although they are not part of our Canadian Imagine Cup there are  additional categories for the WorldWide Imagine Cup as well: Game Design Xbox/Windows, Kinect Fun Labs, Windows Metro Style Challenge, Windows Phone, and more! So many opportunities for Canada and the world to discover what students can do! If you know a student, an instructor, or a professor, make sure they don’t miss out on the opportunity to be a part of Imagine Cup Canada! The deadline for submitting ideas for Windows Phone Game is February 14th and for Software Design is March 13th.

To really get a feel for the excitement, check out this short video from last years Imagine Cup finals in New York City. These students are going to make a difference!