New Delhi, India, 29th April, 2014: 60,000 student innovators from 25 Indian states battled it out for the top three spots in the India-leg of the 12th annual Microsoft Imagine Cup 2014. Represented by Shanu, Ajay Kumar Saini, Shubham Goel, Roshit Gopinath, Team Dexters won the Innovation category; for the gaming category, Team Seven Summits, represented by Asar Dhandala, Prithvi Raj Pawar emerged winners; and Divyani Dubey, Garima Purohit, Jai Sharma, Jitendra Khasdevunder from Team Untraceable0208 won the World Citizenship category. The winners were announced by Microsoft India at the end of the India finals held in NOIDA today. One of these teams will now represent India in the worldwide finals in July in Seattle and compete for a USD 50,000 prize.
Often referred to as the Olympics of Technology, Microsoft Imagine Cup is more than just a competition. It is a platform for young entrepreneurs, developers and innovators to develop and showcase their technology-based new business ideas, create products, put together business plans and even take their products to market, often catapulting them to global fame and fortune.
Imagine Cup 2014 winner and spokesperson
April 28, 2014
Joseph Landes, General Manager – Developer & Platform Evangelism (DPE), Microsoft India with one of the winning teams of Microsoft Imagine Cup 2014
Downloads: Web
“The Imagine Cup facilitates a culture of innovation where teams from across India are given an opportunity to take the first steps towards becoming successful tech entrepreneurs,” said Joseph Landes, General Manager – Developer & Platform Evangelism (DPE), Microsoft India. He further added, “Through the course of this year’s competition, it’s been amazing to see the passion and creativity among young Indian technologists and their enthusiasm to make a tangible change through their ideas. I congratulate the winning teams today, as well as all the students who participated in Imagine Cup 2014. I am really rooting for the India team to win big at this year’s global finals.”
Ecstatic at their win, Team Dexters said, “Winning the Imagine Cup is definitely an important milestone in our team’s journey and we are so excited that we may get to represent India on the global stage. This is just the kind of super-boost we need to further push ourselves and perfect our idea. This win has given us immense confidence and we hope to soon take our innovation to market.”
“Microsoft Imagine Cup is a great platform for budding innovators to be recognized as well as for them to get access to the right tools, support and mentorship that are so critical in their entrepreneurial journey. The entries we saw this year really showcased young India’s technology prowess and I feel very positive about the new breed of entrepreneurs in the making,” says Rita Soni, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation.
Imagine Cup cultivates a spirit of social and technological entrepreneurship, empowering students to use their creativity to solve the world’s toughest problems through technology. While the World Citizenship category is focused on solving global problems in areas such as health, environment, and human rights, projects in the Innovation category need to have a strong consumer appeal and a gee-whiz quality that will surprise and delight a broad audience, and the Games category raises the ante on the global game revolution.
Imagine Cup is part of Microsoft’s larger objective to transform education; nurturing young talent and helping them grow into tomorrow’s leaders. With the growing influence of technology on our daily lives, many students are exploring careers as developers and game designers before they even graduate from high school or college. With that in mind, Microsoft has expanded its annual student technology competition, Imagine Cup, to inspire more students and encourage a wider variety of aspiring “Mobile first, Cloud first” innovators to participate.
About Microsoft Imagine Cup
Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world’s premier technology program and competition for students to learn, build and compete with innovative tools, platform and services. In addition to providing a platform for students to demonstrate and share their next great technologies, Imagine Cup has taken on an increased focus in preparing these students to be young entrepreneurs in the global marketplace.
The Imagine Cup is a year-long activity open to students across the globe. The competition begins with local, regional and online contests, followed by screening of best projects from each country and with winners from these legs participating in the global finals. Over the past eleven years, more than 1.65 million students from more than 190 countries have participated in the Imagine Cup. The Cup allows students to make ground breaking solutions to problems facing the world today and even turn their ideas into a business.
More information about Imagine Cup can be found at http://www.imaginecup.com.
About Microsoft India
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft set up its India operations in 1990. Today, Microsoft entities in India have over 6,000 employees, engaged in sales and marketing, research and development and customer services and support, across nine Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. Microsoft is committed to touching and transforming lives and businesses in India through technology.
