Two final-year computer science students from Dublin Institute of Technology have won second place in the web development category at the Microsoft Imagine Cup finals in South Korea after a week of extreme competition.
Out of 100,000 entrants, 344 students from 112 teams representing 59 countries made it to the finals across nine categories: software design, embedded development, web development, Project Hoshimi (programming battle), IT challenge, algorithm, photography, short film and interface design.
“Imagine Cup provides a forum for university students around the world to explore new ways to use the power of software to help address some of the world’s toughest problems,” said Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft.
“The high caliber of the students and their projects is an indication of their potential to become great business and technology leaders, and a hint at how a new generation of innovations can have a lasting and transformative impact on education and beyond.”
Representing Ireland, the Red Dawn team of Mohammed Al-Tahs and Marouf Azad took second place in web development with a collaborative online software development environment with Web 2.0 functionality.
Already details of the Imagine Cup 2008 have been released. It will be held in Paris with the theme of environmental sustainability: “Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment.”
For Irish universities and institutes of technology interested in taking part there is a top prize of US$25,000 for winning the software design category and US$8,000 for the other eight categories. Bon chance.
By Marie Boran
