Microsoft Software Olympics Kick Off

courtesy: koreatimes.co.kr

Computer prodigies from all over the world have gathered in Seoul to compete in the Microsoft Imagine Cup from Monday through Friday.

A total of 111 teams and 372 finalists from 56 countries have come to South Korea to participate in the fifth year of the worldwide software competition for students, which is being held in the country for the first time. The 2007 finals officially opened with a welcome dinner Sunday evening at the W Seoul-Walkerhill in eastern Seoul.

This year's competition covers technology solutions, IT skills and digital art in nine sub-categories _ software design, embedded development, web development, project Hoshimi programming battle, IT challenge, algorithms, photography, short films and interface design.
^The winners will get $25,000 for the software design field _ the main competition _ and $8,000 for each of other eight categories.

``The Imagine Cup represents the next generation of technology and business leaders," said Joe Wilson, director of academic initiatives at Microsoft. ``The students' creativity and passion speaks volumes about the promise of technology to really make a difference in people's everyday lives, in the way we think, and in how we work and communicate. For Microsoft, this is another opportunity for us to highlight the necessity of supporting student talent in science and technology for future progress in the industry," he said.

More than 100,000 students from all over the world participated in regional competitions of the event, Microsoft said.

For this year, six winners will be provided an opportunity to develop their innovative ideas as a business, the firm said. Teams selected for the Innovation Accelerator program will receive technical support and business coaching to create the must-have technology and communications applications of the future. Over an intensive two-week period in January, students further develop their designs and viable business plans with close guidance from experts at Microsoft and British Telecom, the main sponsor of the event, it said.