Imagine Cup 2008 - Paris by Ed Dunhill, Academic Developer Evangelist - http://blogs.msdn.com/edunhill

Last week I was in Paris at the Worldwide Finals of the Imagine Cup, in this months article I'll introduce you to the competition, some of the best entries and the overall experience in Paris.

So what's it all about?

The Imagine Cup is the world's largest student technology competition and is open to anyone over the age of 16 in full time education. The competition has 8 categories each with a different format but all culminating in a grand final which next year will be held in Cairo, Egypt. The competitions are Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Development, Robotics and Algorithms, IT Challenge, Mashup, Photo Story and Short film. More information on each individual competition can be found on the Imagine Cup Website.

Each year the Imagine Cup is based around a particular theme, this year it was the Environment. From next year the theme will be based around the eight UN Millennium Development Goals which will give competitors more flexibility in the issues their entry addresses. If you want to find out more about next years theme check out my blog post.

So why would you want to get involved? Well first off there are some great prizes for both competing locally and globally. This year the UK finalists in Software Design won a  trip to Seattle to work with the Popfly team at our corporate head office and the Games Dev finalists won a work placement with a Microsoft Game Studio. The Prizes for Software Design and Games Dev fro the overall international winners were in excess of $15,000 plus the chance to turn their idea into a viable business at the Innovation Accelerator. More than the material prizes the Imagine Cup gives you a great springboard for your career, many of the competitors from the UK now work for Microsoft or one of our partners. Plus it's a great experience as I'm sure the UK competitors we took to Paris will agree!

How do I get involved?

Registrations are now open for next years competition so head over to imaginecup.com. Registering doesn't commit you to taking part but gives you the opportunity to find out more about each individual competition and keep updated by email. I will be producing several blog posts to help you get started when the competition itself opens.

What's the final like?

Each year the final is held at a different destination, this year it was Paris, next year it's going to be Cairo and in the past it's also been in Korea, Japan and India. The great thing about the final is that not only will you be competing to be crowned international champion but you will also get the opportunity to experience the culture of the host country. This year the agenda included a welcome reception at the Town Hall, a dinner cruise up the Seine (past the Eiffel Tower), a cultural days with tours around Paris, a trip up the Eiffel tower and the grand final at the Louvre all of which gave the competitors a real sense of the city.

In terms of the competition itself it ranges from presentations to judges to IT simulations to 48 hour photo journals. I was lucky enough to sit in on a bunch of the round one software design presentations and I was blown away by the quality of the entries. From a system using embedded technology to monitor the electrical performance of appliances in the home and improving energy efficiency to an automated irrigation system which takes crops types and weather forecasts into consideration to save water whilst maximising yield. In the embedded category the Irish team built a system to convert diesel engines to use vegetable oil and then built their system into a car and drove it from Ireland to Paris!

What next?

From September I'll be back on the road with the Inspiration Tour but this year we're going to do Imagine Cup lab sessions while we're on campus so watch my blog and hopefully I'll see you in person next academic year!

Ed