Microsoft announces worldwide 2013 Imagine Cup winners

United Kingdom Students Win First Place and $50,000 at Microsoft’s Imagine Cup Competition July 11, 2013

Microsoft Corp. yesterday, announced the winners of the 11th annual Microsoft Imagine Cup, the world’s premier competition for student technologists, developers and aspiring entrepreneurs to create innovative projects and ultimately bring those ideas to market. Winning projects were announced for the three major Competition categories — Innovation, Games and World Citizenship — as well as three product-specific Challenges and eight special awards from Imagine Cup sponsors.

The winners were announced at the Imagine Cup Awards Ceremony, held at the historic Alexandrinsky Theater and attended by more than 800 students, judges, awards Partners, Russian dignitaries and members of the media from around the world. The ceremony was the culmination of a four-day competition and celebration of bringing ideas to life through technology and teamwork.

Eighty-seven student teams from 71 countries competed in the Worldwide Finals after winning local and online competitions around the world. Microsoft has awarded cash and other prizes valued at more than $1 million throughout the yearlong Imagine Cup competition, including awards for the winning teams at the Worldwide Finals event this week.

“For the past 11 years, Imagine Cup has been a place of inspiration and innovation for students around the world,” said Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president and chief evangelist at Microsoft. “The students participating in this competition demonstrate the very best in innovation from their home countries and together are creating new apps, innovations and services that will change the way the world works, interacts and learns. We are incredibly proud of the finalists who competed in Imagine Cup this year and stand in awe of the projects and technology they brought forth during this exciting week.”

Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals winners

“Imagine Cup is a forum for exceptional students from around the world to channel their passion and creativity into thoughtful, innovative solutions that have the potential for real-world impact,” said Jon Bassett, DFJ Frontier analyst and a judge at this year’s Imagine Cup. “Their commitment to their teams and projects demonstrates these students are finding ways to address everyday problems through technology and to make the world a better place.”

The winners of the 11th annual Imagine Cup Competitions are the following:

Innovation

• First Place, $50,000 prize: Team Colinked, United Kingdom, Project: SoundSYNK
• Second Place, $10,000 prize: Team DORA, Slovenia, Project: DORA
• Third Place, $5,000 prize: Team MYRA, Thailand, Project: SkyPACS

Games

• First Place, $50,000 prize: Team Zeppelin Studio, Austria, Project: Schein
• Second Place, $10,000 prize: Team Solite Studio, Indonesia, Project: Save the Hamsters
• Third Place, $5,000 prize: Team Banzai Lightning, France, Project: Seed

World Citizenship

• First Place, $50,000 prize: Team for a Better World, Portugal, Project: For a Better World
• Second Place, $10,000 prize: Team Omni-Hearing Solution, Taiwan, Project: Omni-Hearing Solution
• Third Place, $5,000 prize: Team Confufish Royale, Australia, Project: Foodbank Local

Imagine Cup Challenge winners

This year, Imagine Cup offered three exclusively online Challenges to students, providing additional opportunities for learning, prototyping and creating apps using the newest Microsoft technologies. The top three teams in each category were awarded the opportunity to travel to Russia to compete at the finals. The Challenge winners are the following:

Windows Azure Challenge

• First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team Y-Nots, India, Project: Zoik It!
• Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team nlife, Ukraine, Project: onQuests
• Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team LetssGo, China, Project: Get & Put

Windows Phone Challenge

• First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team vSoft Studio, Singapore, Project: Speak Reminder
• Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team WeRule, Poland, Project: Modern Drug Test
• Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team front, Poland, Project: Cope

Windows 8 Apps Challenge

• First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team TeamNameException, Italy, Project: Ulixes
• Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team Wordsapp, Germany, Project: Wordsapp
• Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team Clever Mind, Thailand, Project: Vocable World

Additional Imagine Cup award winners

In addition to the Competitions and Challenges, students competed for the following special awards from Imagine Cup sponsors:

AFT Excellence Award. Five teams will receive AFT (App Fast Track) review by the Windows Team. In recognition of their outstanding Windows 8 Apps projects, the following teams will receive a review process to enhance their projects and deliver great Windows 8 apps:

• Team Banzai Lightning, France
• Team Flying Ship, Brazil
• Team Lumos, Korea
• Team MASKed Ninjas, Egypt
• Team TapBoarders, Poland

AppCampus Award. Team Flying Ship from Brazil won 50,000 euros in funding, airfare and accommodations for its app Callvenient. In recognition of their great project that could be the next big thing on Windows Phone, the team members will fly to Finland for a four-week AppCampus training event.

DreamSpark Learning Award. Team AuThink of Croatia won $5,000 for its project focused on helping autistic children and their parents, which showcases how software creates new ways of learning and teaching.

Facebook Creativity Award. Team AYNi from Ecuador and its volunteering social-network based project took home $25,000 in Facebook advertising credits.

KFC Russia Award. Team Sano from Canada won $10,000 for its health and wellness project. The team’s project will be showcased in KFC Russia’s flagship restaurant in Moscow.

Mail.Ru Group Connected Planet Award. Three teams met Mail.Ru Group’s challenge to develop a project that embraces online communication and entertainment in fun, useful and innovative ways. The following are the winners:

• First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team Y-Nots, India, Project: Zoik It!
• Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team TeamNameException, Italy, Project: Ulixes
• Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team LetssGo, China, Project: Get & Put

Samsung Digital Native Award. Team Firebird from Sri Lanka received this $10,000 award that honors the fresh thinking, digital savvy and global perspective of its project.

Women’s Empowerment Award. In partnership with UN Women, this award recognizes two student teams that created projects that best address issues impacting women globally. The following are the winners: