Spotlight on local innovation:

Microsoft Imagine Cup next week

One of Microsoft Sri Lankas best known and anticipated annual student competitions, Imagine Cup 2010, will be held on April 29 in Colombo. The competition will see students from universities and education institutes across the island compete in innovation and creativity categories for a spot within the contingent that will travel to Poland later this year to take part in the global event. The 2010 Imagine Cup challenges its participants to ‘imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems’ encouraging young minds to reflect on the Millennium Development Goals proposed by the United Nations to generate their inventions.

‘Together we can make a difference’ has been the core aphorism behind this world renowned student technology competition which brings together hundreds of students from around the world each year to display their creative talents. The Imagine Cup has grown over the years and to over 300,000 students registering for last years global competition.

This year Imagine Cup offers new echelons of challenges with the introduction of three separate awards in addition to the four categories of competitions. The new award additions this year have been the Interoperability Award, Touch and Tablet Accessibility Award and the Next Generation Web Award. Categories like Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Development, Robotics and Algorithm, IT Challenge, Mash Up, Photography, Short Film and Design give students an unlimited scope to work with. This year, the local competition received an unprecedented number of entries with over 25 students applying to compete.

Microsoft Sri Lanka Director - Developer Platform Evangelism Wellington Perera said “Through the Imagine Cup, Microsoft aims to encourage our youth to take a stand on issues and work on ways to solve problems to make the future better for themselves and the country. Our competing teams have always done us proud with many wins at the global competitions.