This Tuesday saw the preliminary finals for the New Zealand Imagine Cup Software Design Competition. We had 7 teams from around the country present (either in person or via Video conferencing) their unique idea to our 3 industry judges. For many teams, this was their first professional demonstration and I think they have performed extremely well and the judges agreed! This year the theme was "Imagine a world where technology enabled better education for all" and we had all sorts of ideas from software that allowed tutors to monitor and assist students in a lab environment, to application that allowed everyday people to learn foreign language(s) in their native tongue, to a 3D first person shooter style game designed to better educate physics to students. Plus software designed to allowed young children to have an active education and not just sitting in front of TVs and PCs, software created to help children who have autism increase their ability to imagine, and the ability for schools with low PC to studnets ratio have maximum students engagement with technology. The top 3 teams will be annouced tomorrow and they will be asked to present to a panel of industry and academic judges on Friday 22nd June in the Microsoft NZ headquarters in Auckland. Stay tuned!