Imagine Cup 2009

"Imagine Cup is an annual competition sponsored and hosted by Microsoft Corp. which brings together young technologists worldwide to help resolve some of the world's toughest challenges. Primarily a software design competition, it enlists teams of four within the high school and collegiate levels to submit software solutions addressing a specifically provided theme. Started in 2002, it has steadily grown in size, where in 2008 210,000 competitors representing over 100 countries competed in the nine Imagine Cup invitationals." -wikipedia.org

Yes, the Imagine Cup is here again, and this year's worldwide final will be held in Cairo, Egypt. Armed with the theme "Imagine a world where technology helps solve the world's toughest problems", Imagine Cup 2009 promises to be grander than ever.Based on 8 United Nations millennium goals, competitors this year will try to came up with solutions to tackle problems such as poverty.

USM had been the champs in local round of software design category for 2 consecutive years and been doing great guns at worldwide final at Paris(2008) and Seoul(2007). You can read more about their achievements here, here and here.

Here are some benefits you can gain by participating in the Imagine Cup 2009:

• Contribute your talents to tackling some of the toughest problems we face today-and maybe even turn your ideas into a business one day
• Learn new technology, skills and test yourself against the brightest students on the planet?
• Meet and make friends from around the world
• The chance to win cash prizes, internships at Microsoft, and even a free trip to Cairo, Egypt for the Worldwide Finals (WW-F).

If you and your team get to participate in WWF, well congrats, you're on your way to Cairo, Egypt to participate in IC09 and also have the chance to see the great pyramid! All expenses paid!

Not a technology student? Don't worry! You can still participate in Imagine Cup. There 9 different categories in IC09, so please do check out each of them at here.It is strongly recommended that each team should have a lecturer as their mentor. If your team makes it into WW-F, your mentor gets to go together! Yahoo! (Use this to persuade your lecturer :p )

Sounds attractive isn't it? So what are you waiting for? The competition had already started. The deadline for round 1 of some categories are as early as 1st March 2008. Register your team as soon as possible so that you and your team could have more time prepare for the competition.

Log on to Imagine Cup website to register as a participant or click on the banner which is on the right hand side of this blog. By registering, you can submit your work to be evaluated, you could get news on IC09. Alternatively, you could drop any enquiries on Imagine Cup 2009 to my email - fooxianyang@student-partners.com .

Needs some inspiration? Visit the recently concluded Imagine Cup 2008's blog, from there you can get a general idea what they did during last competition. IC09's website is also full of learning resources that may assists you not only in your IC09 work, it might also help in your assignments or group works.

Interesting links that might help:
IC 2009 Homepage - http://imaginecup.com
IC 2009 FAQ - http://imaginecup.com/Support/FAQ.aspx
IC 2009 Overview - http://imaginecup.com/Competition/Overview.aspx
IC 2009 Mentor Resources - http://imaginecup.com/Support/MentorResources.aspx
IC 2009 Learning Resources - http://imaginecup.com/Competition/LearningResourcesOverview.aspx
IC 2008(Paris) Blog - http://imaginecupfinalsinparis.spaces.live.com/?lc=1033

Thank you and I'll be looking forwards to hearing from you all soon!

Last but not least,
Spread the words about IC &
Good luck for all USM students for the upcoming final exams!