Microsoft, Tamkeen and the eGovernment Authority announced Team BUZZLERS as Bahrain’s National Champion of “Imagine Cup 2013”, Team MERAKI and Team IT KNIGHTS came in second and third place respectively. Team BUZZLERS received their boarding pass to the “Imagine Cup 2013” Worldwide Finals taking place in St. Petersburg, Russia between 8 and 13 July 2013.
During the final competition, the 6 shortlisted teams presented their projects in front of a live audience and a judging panel consisting of an array of industry experts representing the Imagine Cup’s local and regional sponsors, as well as a representative of Microsoft Bahrain; it included Tareq Hijazi, Regional Country Manager for Microsoft Bahrain and Oman, Dr. Abdulla Alsada, Senior Manager at Tamkeen, Mohammed Ziad Asfour, Assistant Director – Marketing and Awareness Directorate, eGovernment Authority and Hasan Haider, Chief Executive Officer of Tenmou. The judges’ diversified areas of expertise were well matched to the enthusiasm of the competitors.
Team Buzzlers from University of Bahrain won the National competition for its project Bundle; an application that allows users make accounts to create and share Bundles, and view other people’s Bundles. A Bundle is a collection of links to any websites, blogs and / or social media medium; it can also include uploaded documents or photos. These Bundles can be made for the purpose of advertisement, awareness, recommendation, sharing personal preferences, helping others or simply for fun. “We are thrilled to have won the Local Finals of “Imagine Cup 2013” and motivated to represent Bahrain in the Imagine Cup World Finals,” said Team Buzzlers. “We thank Microsoft and their local partners, Tamkeen and the eGovernment Authority, for their support and guidance throughout this competition we shall do our best to make our country proud.”
“We had received a good number of great projects, and we were happy to have 6 teams competing in the local finals and showcased Bahrain’s students’ great potential. Team XXX will be representing Bahrain in the Imagine Cup 2013 World Finals in July; our team will be coaching them over the coming few months to help them finalize their project and get ready to compete globally and hopefully win in the World Finals,” Tareq Hijazi, Regional Country Manager for Microsoft Bahrain and Oman, said.
“One of the core values of Tamkeen is to prepare Bahrain’s youth for the job market. Not only does this programme allow Bahraini youth to use their creativity and imagination, it also gives them opportunities to further develop their ideas and encourages them to participate in a highly competitive environment. Tamkeen would like to congratulate not only the winning team, but all participating teams in this competition wishing them all the best in their future endeavours”
“I would like to congratulate all the winners for accomplishing such extraordinary projects. The eGovernment Authority has continually been keen to support the ICT-related events organized in the country – especially those concerned with the youth as we strongly encourage them to utilize their imagination towards creating innovative technology solutions,” Tamkeen’s Chief Executive Mahmood Hashem AlKooheji, said.
“We are proud to promote another year of highlighting and focusing on the young community’s inventive initiatives as the authority firmly believes and recognizes the rich potentials of youngsters”, eGovernment Authority CEO Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, said.
Microsoft’s Imagine Cup is the world’s most prestigious student technology competition, bringing together student innovators from all over the world. This year, Microsoft has redesigned Imagine Cup around three new core competitions built on the core elements that have been most popular with students in the past 10 years — social impact and gaming — while expanding the competition’s focus on innovation and entrepreneurship.
The second and third places winning teams are:
Team Meraki, a joint venture between students from University of Bahrain and Delmon University, presents Wanderlust, a user’s window to the world around him/her. It helps the users discover and learn more about the places of interest in the country that they visit, using Augmented Reality. With Wanderlust, the traveler won’t have to worry about getting touristic guides or flipping pages.
Team IT Knights from the University of Bahrain is participating with Friday Night application, a social application that helps users set up gatherings with their friends. The vision of Friday Night is employing new technologies to help the community members get off their couches and desks and enjoy face-to-face hangouts and real-life activities.