Agra to host Microsoft contest finals

Agra is about to witness a major change in its industrial profile with major software manufacturers like Microsoft beginning to pay more attention to it.

This August, Microsoft is going to host the worldwide finals of the prestigious Imagine Cup in Agra for the first time in the four years of the beginning of this competition.

According to Sheila Gulati, director, developer and platform evangelism, Microsoft India, Imagine Cup was a global student competition that served as a platform for students from across the world to showcase their software development skills, empowering them to apply their creativity, knowledge and technical abilities towards making the world a better place through technology, and to encourage students to develop applications which are relevant in today's context.

Gulati said the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals would be held at Agra from August6 to 11, 2006 and contestants would have the opportunity to win cash prizes totaling up to $125,000.

An event of this magnitude and scale will give Agra the opportunity to place itself on the international information technology map and reiterate its position as a hotbed for IT innovation.

The theme for the event this year is "imagine a world where technology enables us to live healthier lives".

The week- long event will involve each team showcasing and presenting their products to a panel of judges, panel discussions, cultural activities and entertainment.

Commenting on the Imagine Cup, Gulati said that in the past, Microsoft had seen some truly remarkable solutions being created during the course of the Imagine Cup.

Based on this, the company had chosen healthcare as the theme for this year "� since healthcare was an area that affects the lives of millions across the world, and technology can play a pivotal role in improving the healthcare situation.

She said that Imagine Cup was a significant event "� approximately 110 countries and 65,000 students from across the world would be participating this year, and representatives from a majority of these countries will be present at the Imagine Cup Worldwide finals - making this a truly global event.

Last year, the Imagine Cup Worldwide finals were held in Japan where 92 countries participated. It was here that Agra was selected as the next destination for the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2006 Worldwide Finals.

Over the past four years, there has been tremendous growth in the number of students participating in the Imagine Cup and in the number of countries and universities represented.

In 2003, 1,000 students representing 25 countries competed in the Software Design Invitational for prizes totaling $50,000 (U.S.). Three new invitationals were added for Imagine Cup 2004, which drew more than 10,000 students from over 90 countries competing for total cash prizes of $85,000 (U.S.). Last year's competition saw phenomenal growth with over 16,000 competitors from 92 countries.

After competing with over 12,000 students across India, team 'Sonique' from Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information & Communication Technology (DA-IICT), Gandhinagar has been chosen as the finalist team to represent India in the competition.

The team had created a solution for enabling blind people to dynamically move around and perceive their surroundings, inspired by the echo-location technique used by bats to sense the environment.

As a precursor to Microsoft Imagine Cup worldwide finals at Agra, Bill Gates along with Microsoft's senior leadership team "� Mr. Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer and Mr. Sanjay Parthasarthy, Corporate Vice President, Developer & Platform Evangelism Group would be meeting with the finalists from seven countries on 29th July, 2006. Amongst these seven teams the Indian finalists, team 'Sonique' would also be present at this forum to discuss their vision, their passion and their ideas.