Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
Winners of the national final round of Imagine Cup innovation competition, which was held in Azerbaijan for the 2nd time by Microsoft Azerbaijan and Nar, with the support of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ministry of Communication and Higher Technologies and High-Tech Park, were identified.
To participate in the competition, it was required to prepare Microsoft platform innovative software project as well as prototype of the application, solving problems of the modern era, or to find out an original game. 25 teams representing 11 universities participated in the national selection round of this year's competition, best 15 of which qualified for the national finals.
As in world finals, teams of the students of higher and vocational education institutions taking part in the national finals, competed for three nominations: 'Innovation', 'Games' and 'Social projects'. Winners in all three nominations were chosen by professional juries. In the national finals, 'JavaSet' team, which was presented identification of emotions, won in 'Innovations' nomination, the ADA University's 'The Corp' team, which presented a game for visually impaired persons, in 'Games' nomination and 'SABAH Groups' representative 'TechSOS' team, which presented the device, facilitating identification of location of elderly people got in trouble, in 'Social projects' nomination.
Attending the awarding ceremony Azerfon CEO Kent McNeley congratulated the winners and noted that main purpose of the competition is to instill innovative thinking ability in students and reveal of local talents. 'Reveal of talented Azerbaijani students as well as establishing condition for their preparation as specialists, ready for the demands of tomorrow's market, is a main condition of our traditional support to this project. Nar always supports young people and is ready to support them to soar to new heights. We believe that these talented young people will be future professionals, experts in their fields and mainly, worthy persons', Mr. McNeley said.
Winner teams are now eligible to participate in the international online voting in May. As a result of the voting, they will gain an opportunity to compete for the prize of 50,000 USD in the US World Finals.
Microsoft Imagine Cup competition is one of the large-scale innovation contest, held among the students of the world. Purpose of the competition is to reveal talented students, establish condition for their preparation as specialists, ready for the demands of tomorrow's market.
Always focusing to the development of education and innovation, science and culture, within its corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, Nar has been supporting Microsoft Imagine Cup innovation competition for the second year.