Sydney, Australia, 13 February 2019 – Microsoft has announced Team Caeli from India as the winner of the 2019 Imagine Cup Asia Regional Finals, after a high-strung finale against 11 other teams from across the region. Team Caeli won over the hearts of the judges with their smart automated Anti-Pollution and Drug delivery mask specifically-designed for patients that are suffering from asthma and other chronic respiratory conditions, featuring breakthrough features that will improve the quality of life for respiratory patients living in polluted areas.
The first runner-up and second runner-up places were awarded to Team RailinNova from China and Team AidUSC from the Philippines, respectively.
- Team RailinNova developed the Rail Component Inspection Robot, which determines and identifies rail defects through multi-sensor monitoring. The solution strives to help railway companies to solve any issues more efficiently, and more economically.
- Team AidUSC came up with Aqua Check, a water contamination mobile application that enables detection of contamination by taking a photo of a water sample through a microscope.
In recognition of their outstanding performance, Team Caeli received US$15,000 in prizes and will continue to compete at the Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship, which will be held in Seattle, USA in May. The World Championship winner will stand to win US$100,000, a US$50,000 Azure grant, and a mentoring session with Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella.
Team Caeli’s Aakash Bhadana said: “We are so grateful to have the opportunity to participate in the Imagine Cup, and we are thrilled to represent Asia at the World Finals. We will continue to modify and improve our project, based on the judges’ feedback, before the competition in Seattle.”
This year, 12 finalist teams from 10 countries, including China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand, competed in the Imagine Cup Asia Regional Finals.
Representing Singapore at the Imagine Cup Asia Regional Finals was Team InclusiveAR from Nanyang Technological University (pictured right). Showcasing their Mobile Augmented Reality Navigation Application that assists wheelchair users in travelling, the mobile application maps out wheelchair-accessible routes and provide visual guidance to direct wheelchair users to their destinations using augmented reality technologies.
This year’s judging panel included senior executives from Microsoft, as well as industry leaders, who evaluated the teams on innovation, and whether each solution presented was comprehensive and marketable. The judges were:
- Rachel Bondi, Marketing & Operations Director, Microsoft Australia
- Kate Carruthers, Chief Data Officer at University of New South Wales, author and founder of IoT MAus
- Justin Garrett, Director in Academic Ecosystems at Microsoft
- Mark Pesce, Author, Inventor & Futurist
- Emily Rich, Managing Director for Australia/New Zealand, Microsoft for Startups
Held annually since 2003, the Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition, affectionately known by participants as the “Olympics of student technology competitions”. This year’s Imagine Cup encouraged participants to “Dream it. Build it. Live it” in order to create applications that shape how individuals live, work and play and through their creativity, passion and knowledge of technology.
For more information about Imagine Cup, please visit https://www.imaginecup.com/.