Microsoft announces UK Imagine Cup winners
Find out which university won the fourth annual Imagine Cup Software Design Challenge
It's a hoary old cliché for the older generation to be worried about its youth, but in terms of the IT industry the future looks like it could be in safe hands. Microsoft has just announced the
The Imagine Cup is designed to provide an outlet for students to explore technological and artistic interests outside the classroom. More than 38,000 students from over 140 countries have registered to compete in the six categories that comprise this year's competition: Software Design, Algorithm, Information Technology (IT), Short Film, Interface Design and Project Hoshimi Programming Battle.
The theme for the
After much deliberation, the judging panel - comprised of academics and experts from the technology and business world, including Microsoft, BT, Capgemini and The Council of Professors and Heads of Computing Science - announced the winner as Team Three Pair.
The team consists of Andy Sterland, Tom Randall and James Lissiak, all students of the
As winners, Team Three Pair received a project development package, including an Xbox 360 pack for each participant and £1,500 for the academic mentor to fund teaching resources. They will now travel to
Mark Quirk, head of technology at Microsoft's Developer and Platform Group, explains what the competition means to the company. "The great thing is seeing the creativity and imagination and passion that is inside people to deliver solutions and be innovative.
“This takes guts; you have a rare breed of people. These ideas can all fly and they are all very impressive. There's no doubt that the [quality] bar gets raised [every year] and this year there have been some interesting innovations. The tangible things we get are the association [with the new breed of developers] and we want to show that we support the innovation that is coming through; to provide the spark and see the ideas through to completion."
Quirk reveals that his biggest challenge in developing the project has been narrowing down the entries to a winning idea. He says, "Ultimately you have to look as to whether the core idea is something that you feel some connection with - that is, can you do something with the idea, is it viable? [With this year's entries] it has been a big challenge as the ideas are fabulous, so how do you pick the right one?"