Team “FutureTorch–“LIGHTS” got in first place while the second place was taken by Team “Heart Engineers: “ECG”: while the third place was granted to team “The- B: (SNS)”. The winning team “FutureTorch–“LIGHTS”, came in first in the Software Design category allocating them to advance and represent Bahrain at the Worldwide Finals which will be held in Sydney, Australia in July 2012.
The audience voted on their favorite team for the “People Choice Award” through Twitter and SMS and “Team Futuristic Vision: ‘New me’ “Team won the title by gaining the highest number of votes.
The Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world’s premiere technology competition, which encourages students to use their imagination to create innovative technology solutions that can help address some of the world’s toughest issues. Themed: “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems”, the top three winning teams were selected based on their ability to present innovative solutions that tackle challenges in healthcare, interactive learning, communication and transportation.
The competition which is supported by Bahrain eGovernment Authority (eGA) and Zain Bahrain is targeted for students between the age of 16 years and 26 years, empowering them to use their creative and technical abilities to make a positive impact on society.
“It gives me great pleasure to announce the top three winning teams today. These teams have truly stepped up to the challenge and presented sophistication and creativity through their innovative solutions,” said Tareq Hijazi, Country Manager, MicrosoftBahrain. “The objective of Imagine Cup is to encourage the participants to use technology to make the world a better place by addressing the challenges we see around us. I am pleased to say that the efforts of all top three winning teamswere recognized as an excellent projection of the creativity and innovation that drives the youth in Bahrain.”
“The Kingdom of Bahrain has recently launched its new eGovernment Strategy 2016, which involves supporting and encouraging innovative projects – being one of the strategy’s main objectives. We support all youth’s projects, especially students’ initiatives that help in developing the country’s economy,” Al Qaed while congratulating the winning teams, said.
He also noted that developed countries mainly rely on the innovative knowledge that is produced by the citizens.
“Imagine Cup is one of the vital initiatives we at the eGovernment Authority are keen to support, due to its role in encouraging local youth and student talents which aim at developing ICT-based ideas and projects,” he added.
Al Qaed concluded by wishing the winning Bahraini team the best of luck when taking part in the final international round that will be held in Sydney, Australia.
Zain Bahrain General Manager Mohammed Zainalabedin congratulated the winners and said their ability to create technological solutions held great promise for Bahrain.
“As we move into a world where technology is called upon to solve many more problems and create new approaches to better living, it is the talent and the ability of these young people which will power the progress of Bahrain. At Zain Bahrain, we are proud that we have supported the Microsoft Imagine Cup and once again placed a Vote of Confidence in the transformational capabilities of our Bahraini youth,” he said.
The judging panel included Tareq Hijazi the Country Manager of Microsoft Bahrain and Oman, Dr. Zakareya Ahmed Al Khajah the Director of Policies and Business Processes Re-engineering at the Bahrain eGovernment Authority, Emad El-Kayali the Strategic Initiatives Director in Zain Bahrain along with Hasan Haider the Chief Executive Officer of Tenmou.
The top three winning projects from Bahrain are: Team The- B: (SNS): Speed notification system (SNS) is a system that calculates and monitors the speed of the vehicle using a microchip-controlled device installed in the car. When the motorist goes over the speed limit, the system device sends the speed reading and the location of the vehicle to the main server located at the Traffic Department via cellular technology.
Team FutureTorch–“LIGHTS” is a system that will control the way the lights on the highways operate using sensors that will detect motion and objects at a certain grid; and will switch the LED Street Lamp Lights on when needed, and off when not. The System consists of sensors embedded in the lamp posts that are in charge of activating the lights of a specific grid it is assigned to. This system is designed to save the energy wasted on lighting the streets while it is not needed.
Team Futuristic Vision: ‘New me’ is a software application that is compatible for both PCs and mobile phones. It acts as a friendly companion for the diabetic patient to guide and manage his/her daily lifestyle and improves his/her health care. The app will act as a smart social networking application that connects the patients and the doctors for better health care services.
Team Heart Engineers: “ECG” The main idea of ECG Triple-D is to monitor heart disease patients remotely. This will save beds in the wards of hospitals which will eliminate the staying at hospital costs, give more roaming freedom to the doctors, and more privacy for the patients. It will also facilitate the diagnosis of the ECG waves for the doctors. Also, in case of an emergency, an SMS will be sent to the doctor informing him/her with the patients’ breakdown.
Team We Can:“Volun-Here”A system which consists of a website and a device located in all malls and famous places. Volunteers can register as a volunteer in the website. If the volunteer need to participate in a voluntary job, the need only either to login to their account in the website and can view the jobs available near them only or if they don’t have an internet access they can just go to any of (volun-here) device and scan the RFID card and an SMS will be sent to show the jobs and a map to the location.
Imagine Cup compliments Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential commitment to create social and economic opportunity through programs and products that transform education, foster local innovation and enable jobs and opportunities worldwide.