Hong Kong competing among 35 student teams from around the world with original projects in gaming, citizenship, and innovations in user experience
Hong Kong, August 4, 2016 – Microsoft announced three outstanding student teams as the Games, Innovation and World Citizenship winners at the Imagine Cup 2016 World Finals. From these three teams, Team ENTy of Romania was picked as the World Champion.
Now in its 14th year, Microsoft’s Imagine Cup competition has inspired countless to dream and build original solutions to help change the world. The 2016 World Finals capped an exciting three days for 35 global student teams who vied for more than US$200,000 in cash and prizes, a 1:1 mentoring session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the coveted Imagine Cup. Projects included a video game about nuclear physics, a virtual reality app to help stroke patients and an idea to revolutionize digital advertising, among others.
This year, Hong Kong was represented by Team KinectGarten, a team inspired by the power of technology and innovation and motivated to shatter the status quo and make life better for everyone, not just the privileged few. The team focused on the city’s children, who often learn in a high-pressure environment, and came up with the idea of integrating gaming into homework to allow children to learn and play simultaneously.
The competition took the Hong Kong students on a rewarding inner and physical journey, providing them with a unique opportunity to think about their place in the world, their strengths and weaknesses and also to learn about the importance of creativity. They came into contact with many other young, passionate people, from all around the world, including Sri Lanka, Romania and Australia, and created connections that, in a time of global uncertainty, offer great hope for the future.
Peter Ho, a Hong Kong Polytechnic University student and the lead of KinectGarten said, “The Imagine Cup allowed me to realize my product, and the opportunity to present my solution to international judges. I was amazed by the breadth and depth of ideas and presentations from the other teams. These presentations also proved to be valuable lessons. It was a great chance to meet and make new friends with passion from all over the world.”
Steven Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President, Developer Experience & Evangelism and Chief Evangelist, Microsoft, said, “Microsoft believes in the power of connecting young people with technology to dream big, build creatively and boldly bring their ideas to life. Through our Microsoft Imagine program, students get access to unique experiences and world class development and cloud tools, at no cost, so they can start building their future now.”
Anthony Salcito, Vice President, Worldwide Education, Microsoft, said, “At Microsoft, we believe technology can play a profound role in teaching and learning, creating a direct and life-long impact on students. The Microsoft Imagine Cup is the embodiment of this belief. The competition has been an example of how people can do remarkable things when technology is within reach.”
The judges who assessed the teams this year included Star Wars: The Force Awakens lead actor John Boyega; Dr. Jennifer Tang, part of the duo behind the 2014 Imagine Cup Champion, Team Eyenaemia; and Kasey Champion, an accomplished software engineer and Computer Science Curriculum Developer at Microsoft.
Held annually since 2003, the Microsoft Imagine Cup is a global student technology competition, known affectionately by participants as the “Olympics of student technology competitions”. For many of the teams, their journey to the Imagine Cup World Finals started way back in August 2015, when students began forming their teams at schools all across the globe to compete on their local level to qualify for the World Finals. The teams compete in three categories: Games, Innovation and World Citizenship.
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