Informatics, UCSC emerge victorious at Imagine Cup 2014

Three teams, Firebirds and Silver Chasers from Informatics, and Fat and Thin Studios from University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC), emerged victors at the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2014 local competition, at the Engineering Faculty of the Peradeniya University recently.

Imagine Cup, which has become Sri Lanka's premier student technology competition, had 14 teams competing in the final round at the DHPL auditorium in Colombo.

It had representatives from key educational institutions across the island with teams from the University of Sabaragamuwa, University of Colombo School of Computing, Universities of Moratuwa, Rajarata and Informatics Institute of Technology, presenting projects under the categories of 'World Citizenship', 'Innovation' and 'Games' to a panel of judges consisting of industry experts and business leaders.

The winners under the Innovation category were the Firebirds from Informatics who presented the project 'Dream Mode', which was a device to help people dream what they desire and being a preventive for insomnia.

The team Silver Chasers also from Informatics won under the Citizenship category presenting the project 'Find Me' which was a parental monitoring device comprising a mobile chip and a mobile app. The winners under the Gaming category was 'Fat and Thin Studios' from the UCSC which presented the project 'Bird Academy' which was a mobile game which uses the tilts and the motions of a touch phone in a fun way.

Teams from the University of Moratuwa, Informatics, UCSC and University of Peradeniya came first and second runners-up in the three categories with a tie for the second runner-up in the World Citizenship category.

The three winners will compete against global competitors, when they make their submissions at the global online competition in June.

Imagine Cup, which was first introduced to Sri Lanka in 2005 has garnered much enthusiasm from local universities and private higher education institutions.

The competition provides students the opportunity to launch careers, take initial steps to becoming entrepreneurs and gain valuable information and experience locally and internationally.

Microsoft also offers up-to-the-minute technology to students to hone their skills to be a part of this competition, which has greatly improved the quality of projects presented by local teams each year.

Director, Developer Platform Evangelism of Microsoft Sri Lanka,Wellington Perera, said that the competitors have acquired professional sophistication in the fields of technology and commercial viability over the years.