The Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition hosted by Microsoft. Open to high school, college, and university students across the globe, the Imagine Cup is the largest international community of student competitors, and represents a great opportunity for students to win prizes and make the world a better place through the use of technology. Students choose the competition that they are most interested in and develop a submission in line with the specific contest requirements. Students take their project from concept, through prototype and architecture, to final implementation. Along the way they learn many important concepts, like UI and code development using platforms like Microsoft’s Visual Studio, SQL, and the Windows .NET framework. Imagine Cup is not just for programmers – submissions can include components like videos and social marketing. Competitions include: Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Design, Digital Media and the IT Challenge. Each of competitions are aligned to one specific theme. For 2010, the theme is “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.” The United Nations has identified some of the hardest challenges in the world today in its Millennium Development Goals: poverty, education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, disease, the environment, and developing a global partnership for development. The Imagine Cup calls on programmers, designers, and technology enthusiasts to rise to this challenge and use the Millennium Development Goals as inspiration when designing their submissions. The Imagine Cup spans one year, beginning with local, regional, and online contests and ending with a Worldwide Finals. For 2010, the Worldwide Finals will take place in Warsaw, Poland, from July 3-8, 2010.
