Kuwait City, Kuwait – April 9, 2012- Microsoft today announced the winning teams participating at the Imagine Cup Kuwait Local competition held under the auspices of the Central Agency of Information Technology, at the Salwa Sabah Al-Ahmad Theatre & Hall in Al Salmiyah.

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.

During this event, the teams had the opportunity to present their projects in front of the judging panelists. The teams have put in a lot of hard work towards solving the world’s toughest problems.

Microsoft Kuwait announced the winners for the Software Design category: “Team GG” won 3^rd place while the 2^nd place was taken by “Team 1337”. The first place winning team in the Software Design category was “The Code Breakers” team bringing them to advance to the worldwide finals and represent Kuwait at the event which will be held in Sydney, Australia in July 2012.

“The Code Breakers” team also won the Mobile Development Award which is supported by Zain. Their solutions demonstrated the best use of mobile technology and they were recognized for their efforts and creativity at the event. The audience voted for their favorite team using twitter and “Team GG” won the title for The People’s Choice Award by gaining the highest number of votes.

The local competition is supported by Zain, the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, and Burgan Bank. Students between the age of 16 years and 26 years compete using 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 Ehab Mostafa, Country Manager, Microsoft Kuwait. “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 teams were recognized as an excellent projection of the creativity and innovation that drives the youth in Kuwait.” 

The judging panel included Dr. Salah Baqer from the Ministry of Health, Mr. Yaqoub Yousef Khajah, Senior Manager at Zain, Eng. Manar Al-Hashash, CEO of DotDesign, and Eng. Suad Al-Nsafi, Central Agency for Information Technology.

“We witnessed an unprecedented success that surpassed all of our expectations in this year’s edition of Imagine Cup.” said Mr. Waleed AlKhashti, Corporate Communications & Relation Department Manager at Zain. “The top three winning teams at this year’s Imagine Cup set an excellent example of what true innovation and creativity is all about. Imagine Cup is an initiative that will continue to inspire younger generations to make a difference in the world around them through technology and we are very pleased to be part of an initiative that nurtures young talents in Kuwait.”

The top three winning projects from Kuwait are: 

-          First Place Winner: The Code Breakers, Universal Sign System: This Kinect-based application recognizes sign language and synthesizes it into a human voice. This would allow easy spoken conversations for those who need to communicate with sign language.

-          Second Place Winner: Team 1337, Home Rehabilitation System (HRS): HRS is a Windows 7-based application that provides patients in need of paralysis rehabilitation, with remote physiotherapy guidance in the comfort of their homes. The software uses a webcam to recognize the patient’s face and then assigns an appropriate exercise routine. Medical professionals will be able to use the system to monitor progress remotely.

-          Third Place Winner: Team GG, KinEd: This solution utilizes Microsoft’s game changing Kinect motion activated system to engage with students through a variety of games and learning tools. The system will cover a variety of subjects, particularly math and science, in a manner that encourages physical and virtual interaction with the learning material.

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.