Microsoft Lebanon announced the winners of the Imagine Cup 2015 competition on the 22nd of April at Microsoft offices in Lebanon. Microsoft Imagine Cup, a cornerstone of the Microsoft Youth Spark initiative is the World’s premier student technology program and competition targeting students between the ages of 16 and 24 years old from all academic backgrounds.
“We are thrilled to hold yet another successful edition of Imagine Cup for our students in Lebanon”, said Hoda Younan, Microsoft Lebanon Country Manager. “Through Imagine Cup, we aim to inspire student developers to create innovative solutions that change the way we live, work and play while also growing the skills they need to pursue a future in technology. Students from the different universities in Lebanon registered, formed teams, dreamt big and worked hard to create fantastic new technology projects, and today, we are here to honor their success”, she continued.
Lebanese students from AUB, AUL, AUST, UOB, BAU, Haigazian, LAU, LIU, LU, NDU, RHU, USEK, USJ and 2 School Students were invited to partake in the Imagine Cup and benefit from the opportunity to expand their technical knowledge as well as develop their soft skills.
This year’s competition received more than 71 registrations and a total of 11 projects reached the finals as follows: 4 teams in the World Citizenship category, 5 teams in the Innovation and 2 teams in the Games category.
“Through the years, Imagine Cup has become a national quest for Lebanese talent, and our youth have succeeded to surprise us and make us proud year after year. I am happy to support a new season of Imagine Cup and grateful for Microsoft for hosting this global initiative that helps our students drive new skill development and inspire collaboration and teambuilding”, said the minister of telecommunications Mr. Nicolas Sehnaoui.
“Our growing youth population in the region is facing many challenges such as education and unemployment, promoting innovation as a competitive advantage is imperative to create jobs for the increasing number of job seekers. Creating jobs in the Arab region requires robust growth in the SME sector as well as Entrepreneurship”, explained Ghassan Chahine, Development Platform Strategy Lead at Microsoft Lebanon. “At Microsoft promoting the development of 21st Century skills, share of knowledge and instilling the entrepreneurial spirit are integral parts of our broader mission for the region to promote social and economic sustainability, and Imagine Cup is one of the programs launched to fulfill this mission”, he continued.
The 3 national winners will join more than 30 teams from around the Arab World at the Imagine Cup Pan-Arab Semi-Finals to be held in Manama, Bahrain between 31 May and 3 June 2015. The Pan-Arab Semi-Finals comes to recognize Microsoft’s commitment to empowering young entrepreneurs in the region; it also answers to the growing participation of contestants from around the Arab world and encourage them to stand out for a chance to represent the Arab nation at the Worldwide Finals taking place in Seattle this summer.
The 2015 Imagine cup local winners were announced as follows:
o World Citizenship: QUADROFIGHTER: An autonomous quadcopter capable of detecting forest fires and alerting the authorities in times
o Games: ANITY ILLICIT: Prism break is a 2D arcade plat- former. Easy to play and an original piece. Simply a pick up and play game
o Innovation: POLYGON: NFC controlled smart lock inspired from the concept of the internet of things that can also be opened remotely
The first place prizes in the Worldwide Finals for World Citizenship, Games and Innovation will each be US$50,000.
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