Microsoft announces world final winners in games, innovation, and world citizenship

The waiting time  is over. Thirty-three finalist Teams who arrived Seattle last Monday for the global technology contest had showcased their innovative solutions in a live presentation before Microsoft panel of judges.

Although it may be difficult for the judges to select the best solution, but winners have emerged from the   Imagine Cup World Finalist Teams.

Just yesterday, Microsoft announced winners of 2015 Imagine Cup finals in Games, Innovation and World Citizenship categories.

It would be recalled that thirty-three Imagine Cup World Finalist Teams had arrived Seattle last Monday for the global showcase.

Meanwhile, the Imagine Cup World Champion will be crowned today by the Microsoft Chief Executive Officer,  Satya Nadella.

The competing Teams had presented their innovative solution in a live presentation before Microsoft panel of judges last Wednesday.

World Citizenship:

1st Place: Virtual Dementia Experience, Australia: $50,000 and a Microsoft YouthSpark Boot Camp

2nd Place: Mozter, Singapore: $10,000

3rd Place: Prognosis, Greece: $5,000

Innovation:

1st Place: eFitFashion, Brazil: $50,000 and a Microsoft Ventures Boot Camp

2nd Place: NoObs, Azerbaijan: $10,000

3rd Place: Siymb, United Kingdom: $5,000

Games:

1st Place: IzHard, Russia: $50,000 and a PAX Boot Camp

2nd Place: Kuality Games, Netherlands: $10,000

3rd Place: Thief, China: $5,000

World Citizenship: Virtual Dementia Experience  from Australia

The Virtual Dementia Experience (VDE) simulates the effects of aging and dementia in a virtual environment, so that cognitively intact people can gain an appreciation of the issues confronting people with dementia.

Innovation: eFitFashion, Brazil

The project “Clothes For Me” is an online marketplace developed to sell custom made and tailored clothes in a simpler way. The goal is to increase the development of the ePMG software, which generates patterns of clothes automatically, based on the user’s measurements.

That way, everyone can find clothes that fit perfectly, no matter what type of body they have. The team aims to connect customers, seamstresses and clothing firms all over the world, offering them a channel to get in touch with reliability and security.

Games: IzHard, Russia

OVIVO is a 2D puzzle-platformer. The game world is divided into black and white spaces. With the ability to transit from one color zone to another, the player-controlled character penetrates through the environment’s contours and overcomes obstacles.

Interestingly, this  year, a special award was added to the competition, the Microsoft Imagine Cup “Ability Award.”

 This award celebrates the student team that demonstrates innovation with the potential to drive a more accessible and inclusive workplace and world. In addition to the title, the winners will be given the opportunity to come back to Redmond for an “Ability Bootcamp” – spending time with experts in disability, accessibility and inclusive design from across Microsoft, refining their project and getting invaluable insight.

Team Prognosis from Greece takes home the Ability Award. Prognosis proposes an intelligent ICT-based approach for early Parkinson’s disease detection and early intervention in older adults’ everyday life, promoting active and healthy aging by introducing new ways of health self-managing tools, set within a collaborative care context with health professionals.

The awards ceremony also bestowed the title of Microsoft Student Partner of the year to Jason Chee of Singapore.

The MSP of the Year Award honors the student partner who exhibits advanced technical skills, the quality of the apps they’ve created and the events they’ve organized to reach students in their country. Jason not only received this prestigious recognition, but he also won  $2,000.

One thing is clear. It is hard to believe that today is the last day of the 2015 Imagine Cup World Finals. The students who arrived bleary-eyed on Monday are not the same developers while heading back to their countries today.

They’ve received feedback from experts on how to improve their presentation – and this is where Imagine Cup stands out in a student’s path to entrepreneurship.

As a recent competitor reminded us all, no other technology competition focuses so much on the real-life business aspect of potential apps and games. At Imagine Cup, students turn into entrepreneurs almost without realizing it.

World Championship

For Team Virtual Dementia Experience, Team eFitFashion and Team IzHard, the journey continues to the World Championship round today  where they will vie for the ultimate prize.

 For this final round today,  Microsoft has  lined up a new, spectacular trio of judges: Thomas Middleditch, star of HBO’s “Silicon Valley”; Alex Kipman, Inventor of HoloLens; and Jens Bergensten, Lead Developer of Minecraft.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/07/microsoft-announces-world-final-winners-in-games-innovation-and-world-citizenship/#sthash.EUg2XetO.dpuf