Global finals of the world's largest technology competition begin today in Egypt.
CAIRO, July 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Competition begins today in Cairo for 444 students from 124 countries and regions at the Imagine Cup 2009 Worldwide Finals. Now in its seventh year, Imagine Cup is an annual Microsoft Corp. competition that challenges students around the globe to use their creative genius to build technology solutions that can help address some of the world's toughest challenges.
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This year, the students' efforts are focused on using technology to help address the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. These goals encompass some of the most difficult issues facing our world, ranging from halving extreme poverty and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS to providing universal primary education. The Imagine Cup calls on young programmers, artists and technologists to rise to this challenge: 'Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems facing us today.'
More than 300,000 students from 100 countries accepted this challenge and registered for Imagine Cup 2009. Over the past year, students have participated in local, regional and online competitions, showcasing their innovative solutions to real-world problems. The winners of these initial rounds arrive in Cairo today, where they will present their entries to a panel of judges from academia and the technology industry. At stake is more than $288,000 in prize money and the chance to kick-start their careers in one of several technological fields.
'By providing students with cutting-edge technology and challenging them to address some of our world's most challenging issues, the Microsoft Imagine Cup is tapping an incredible and limitless resource -- the passion, creativity and talents of students from around the globe,' said Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft.
Student teams compete in the Imagine Cup 2009 Worldwide Finals across nine categories: Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Development, IT Challenge, Robotics and Algorithm, MashUp, Photography, Short Film and Design.
