Students from Bahrain and Qatar will represent the region at the Worldwide Finals of Imagine Cup 2014 – Microsoft’s global student technology competition. Held for the first time in 2014, the Pan-Arab Imagine Cup Semi-Finals hosted 23 teams from 12 Arab countries.
More than 140 students, mentors and judges from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates took part in the Semi-Finals, which culminated with the June 3 crowning ceremony
Following two rigorous days of qualification rounds in Doha with Qatar’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology attending the final deliberations,
Team “Butterfly” from Bahrain was announced winner in the Innovation category, after presenting a project called “Nail Polish Mixer; a mobile application controlled by one machine that enables women to create their own nail polish mix, test different colors, match it with skin types, and choose between three shades of color (normal, glitter and matte) then share it across all social media platforms.
“We would like to thank Microsoft for this wonderful experience, and we are both are very excited to take our idea forward and compete with the rest of the teams in Seattle. Thank you Microsoft for helping us transform our dream into reality, and hopefully one day, you will see our idea sold in the market.” announced the Bahraini team.
Team “I Copy You” from Qatar University was announced the winner in the Citizenship category, after presenting low-cost educational software designed to build communications skills among children with autism. Utilizing Microsoft’s Kinect camera, the software detects the motions of the child and provides feedback to a RoboSapien – a low cost humanoid robot – which uses the information to mimic the movements of the child.
For the two winning teams, the journey has just begun. On July 29, 35 teams will advance to the WW finals, 6 of which are from MEA and 2 of MEA are from the Pan-Arab event in Seattle, Washington (U.S.) to compete for top prizes and support for their ideas through special competitions, including the Facebook Creativity Award and Skype Award. New in 2014, the top team in each category at the Worldwide Finals will be given the opportunity to take part in Imagine Cup Boot Camp, during which they will receive hands-on mentorship and project development support from Microsoft and industry experts.
Tamkeen and the eGovernment Authority in Bahrain were the strategic partners to the local Imagine Cup competition and was supported by Bahrain Development Bank.
