Tech

Nigeria Among 35 Finalists In Microsoft Imagine Cup, Heading To Seattle

Published

8 years ago

June 26, 2016

Team Humane from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria is among 35 teams from around the world selected to contest at the 2016 Microsoft Imagine Cup world wide finals holding next month in Seattle, Washington, the United States of America.

However, the team has a solution designed to to help visually impaired navigate smartphones.
Accordingly, the 35 teams will bring their unique visions for the future to Seattle to compete in the Imagine Cup World Finals from July 26 through
29, 2016.

Microsoft Imagine Cup is the premier student technology program and competition, and a cornerstone of the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative.
The software competition provides an opportunity for student technologists, developers and aspiring entrepreneurs from all academic backgrounds to collaborate, develop a technology application, create a business plan and gain a keen understanding of what is needed to bring a concept to market.
The solution developed by the Nigerian Team comes with an accompanying hardware known as the Humane handle, which interacts with apps installed on a device using Bluetooth.
With the innovative solution from the Nigerian Team, a visually impaired person would be able to navigate through various apps installed on his/her mobile phone using the handle and an integrated voice navigation system.
With their impressive outing during the national finals held in Lagos, there were convincing signals that they will make Nigeria proud .

It would be recalled that the journey to the Imagine Cup World Finals started way back in August, when students began forming their teams at schools all across the globe.
Since then, they have poured their hearts and souls into their solutions and competed in dozens of National Finals, taking great projects from just an idea to competition-grade execution.
To get to this point, more than 150 top teams from National Finals events had pitched on r World Semifinals, where they were judged by a global panel of MVPs, industry experts and Microsoft staff. The judges, according to Microsoft were asked to select only the best, most compelling projects from teams vying to move on to the World Finals, the final stage of the competition.
At the World Finals, the remaining teams will compete to be crowned as the champions in their respective categories and the chance to win $50,000.

At the end of the day, one team will go on to win the coveted Imagine Cup and the grand prize, a private mentoring session with our CEO, Satya Nadella.
One thing is certain. The ingenuity of this year’s World Finalist teams is impressive. From incredible game concepts, to life-saving devices, to solutions that could revolutionize the way we do business – no one will leave Imagine Cup untouched or uninspired by these ideas by the time the competition is over and a new champion is chosen.
Speaking on the amazing solutions developed by these students, Pablo Veramendi
Imagine Cup Competition Manager said that, “I never stop being awed by the forward-thinking and unique solutions that a fresh, young perspective can bring to the technology industry. These developers are poised to do great things, and I for one can’t wait to see what the future holds

READ ALSO How To Gift Data on 9mobile

“My sincerest congratulations and thanks to all the students who started on this amazing journey all those months ago, and, to all the World Finalist teams, I wish you good luck.
“With all the impressive student innovation on display, this year’s Imagine Cup World Finals will be chock full of excitement. Be sure to tune into the World Championship livestream at 9 a.m. PT on July 29 to catch all the action and root for your favorite team”.
Meanwhile, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, South Africa, Spain, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Romania, France, Tunisia, Sri Lanka, France, Sri Lanka, India, Hong Kong, Japan, Turkey, United States, Italy, Singapore, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Poland
China, Germany, Ecuador, Mexico, Taiwan, among other countries will be heading to Seattle next month for the final contest.