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Nanyang Poly students to represent S'pore in global student tech competition
Team AlphaWaves from Nanyang Polytechnic celebrates their victory at the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012, Singapore. From left: Ziriad Saibi, Director, Platform and Developer Evangelism Group, Microsoft Singapore, Koh Kai Wei, Eustace Zheng Xiangwen, Nur Nadiah Binte Zailani, Mong Yunheng and Shen Yizhe, Academic Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Singapore.
SINGAPORE - A team from Nanyang Polytechnic has beaten three other finalist teams to win the coveted spot to represent Singapore at the global 10th Imagine Cup finals, the world's premier student technology competition held in Sydney, Australia this July.
Over the past two days, students across the country came together to harness their creativity and passion to generate ideas on solving the world’s toughest problems using technology.
The winning project by team AlphaWaves, ‘Dementia Assistance and Recall Engine (DARE)’, utilises Windows 8 and Windows Azure, to create a web-based digital scrapbook.
It is designed to capture and organise the past memories in a personalised digital format and will be used as part of reminiscence therapy to help stimulate recall of memories for dementia patients, Nur Nadiah Bte Zailani of Team AlphaWaves said.
This year's submissions had to follow the theme “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems”.
The top four teams were tasked to use technology to make a difference in the lives of people, addressing issues in education, healthcare and environmental sustainability. Examples include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.
The annual event, conceptualised and organised by Microsoft Singapore, has become known as the Olympics of student technology competitions. It also showcases the inventiveness, maturity and sophisticated thinking of students.
The winning team was picked from over 85 entries in the Software Design Category.
“The Imagine Cup is more than a software competition; it’s about inspiring students to become tomorrow’s technology and business leaders,” said one of the judges, Ms Jessica Tan, managing director, Microsoft Singapore.
“The technology industry not only is a key driver of economic growth and job creation, but also offers vast potential to solve some of the world’s toughest social problems. The creativity and passion of these students speak volumes about the impact they will create in Singapore and, hopefully one day, in the world.”
More than 2,700 students registered for this year’s Singapore competition.
As winners of the Singapore Finals, team AlphaWaves will travel to Sydney, Australia, this July to represent Singapore in the worldwide finals and showcase their innovation alongside hundreds of other students from around the world.
In addition to cash and prizes awarded to the top teams in the worldwide competition, students can gain real-life experience and get a chance to attend training sessions to help them turn their ideas into reality.
The Singapore chapter of the competition was held for the first time in 2003.
