Imagine Cup is an annual competition sponsored and hosted by Microsoft Corp. which brings together student developers worldwide to help resolve some of the world's toughest challenges.[1] It is considered as "Olympics of Technology" by computer science and engineering and is considered one of the top competitions and awards related to technology and software design. All Imagine Cup competitors create projects that address the Imagine Cup theme: "Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems". Started in 2003, it has steadily grown, with more than 2 million competitors representing 150 countries in 2022. The 2023 Imagine Cup World Championship was held in Seattle, United States.[2] [3]
The Imagine Cup began in 2003 with approximately 1,000 competitors from 25 countries and regions and has grown to more than 2 million competitors representing 150 countries in 2022. The Imagine Cup World Championship has been held all over the globe. Since 2014, the Imagine Cup World Championship has been held in Seattle, United States.[2]
All Imagine Cup competitors create projects that address the Imagine Cup theme: “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.”
There are a number of competitions and challenges within the Imagine Cup. The Software Design category is the primary competition in which its winners take home the Imagine Cup trophy.
| 2004 |  Team EPITA[10] Aymeric Gaurat Apelli Francois Beaussier Guillaume Belmas Vincent Vergonjeanne | Team Inspiration Stanislav Vonog Nikolay Surin Konstantin Zhereb Taras Kushko |  Team SmartEyesEleni Korkontzila Dimitrios Bisias Styliani Taplidou Nikolaos Trichakis | |
| 2005 | Team OmniMusic[11] Stanislav Vonog Nikolay Surin Alexander Popov Ruslan Gilfanov | |||
| 2006[12] |  Team Even.ctorGiorgio Sardo Massimo Paternoster Silvia Perrone Andrea Sossich |  Team TrivialCarlos Rodrigues Ivan Cardim Madson Menezes | Team NTNU Jan-Kristian Markiewicz Gøran Hansen Hans Olav Norheim Jonas Follesø | |
| 2007 |  Team 3KCPrachaya Phaisanwiphatpong Vasan Chienmaneetaweesin Jatupon Sukkasem Pathompol Saeng-Uraiporn | Team En#605/Project Finger Code Prachaya Phaisanwiphatpong Vasan Chienmaneetaweesin Jatupon Sukkasem Pathompol Saeng-Uraiporn |  Team ICADImran Allie Conroy Smith Ayson Baxter Damion Mitchel | |
| 2008[13] |  Team SOAK[14] David Burela Edward Hooper Dimaz Pramudnya Long Zheng |  Team HousekeepersDusan Zelenik Jakub Simko Michal Kompan Marian Honsch | ||
| 2009 |  Team SytechAdrian Buzgar Calin Juravle Andreas Resios | Team VitalLab Maxim Bovykin Sergey Fedorov Denis Gnatyuk Alexey Klishin | ||
| 2010[15] | Team Skeek Krithee Sirisith Pichai Sodsai Thanasunn Dilokpinitnun Nonthawat Srichad |  Team TFZR Zlatibor Veljković Milan Kojadinović Goran Nikolić Vanja Zavišin |  Team OneBeepVinny Lohan Steve Ward Kayo Lakadia Chanyeol Yoo | |
| 2011[16] |  Team HermesJames McNamara Calum Cawley Matthew Padden Aine Conaghan |  Team Note-TakerQian Yan Shashank Srinivas David Hayden Michael Astrauskas |  Team OaSys Yousef Wadi Mohammad Azzam Monir Abu Hilal Hani Abu Huwaij | |
| 2012[17] | Team quadSquad Stepanov Anton Posternikov Anton Osika Maxim Jasakov Valery | |||
| 2013[18] |  Team For a Better World | |||
| 2014[19] | Team Eyenamia | |||
| 2015[20] | Team EFitFashion | |||
| 2016[21] | Team ENTy | |||
| 2017[22] | Team X.Glu | |||
| 2018[23] |  Team SmartArm | |||
| 2019[24] | Team EasyGlucose Bryan Chiang |  Team Caeli Bharat Sundal |  Team Finderr[25] Ferdinand Loesch Choon Kiat Lee Sachin Sriskanda |
| 2005[26] | Team Solvent-OD Andre Furtado Adeline Silva Madson Menezes Raony Araujo | Team FIBRA Sergey Dubovi Pavel Zadumkin Dmitry Kozlov Anastasiya Filinova | Team Paladin Liu Teifeng Yang Yongzhi He Cong Yang Lizhen |
| 2007 | Team TriventDreams EDAndre Furtado Carlos Rodrigues Ivan Cardim Roberto Sonnino | |||
| 2008 |  Team Trail Blazers | Team AcidRain Team Wings |  Team Aero@PUT | |
| 2009 | Team Wafree | Team iSee | ||
| 2010 | Team SmarterME | Team MCPU | Team GERAS | |
| 2011 | NTHUCS | Harmonicare | Endeavour_Design |
| 2008 | SKAN [27] Sameet Singh Khajuria Karun AB Amith George Noel Sequeira | Ecologix [28] [29] Carlos Eduardo Rodrigues Eduardo Sonnino Renato Ferreira Roberto Sonnino | Together [30] Dariusz Walczak Marcin Wrzos Piotr Sikora Tomasz Nowak | |
| 2009 [31] | Proativa Team Amirton Chagas Flavio Almeida Joao Paulo Oliveira Santos Lucas Mello | ECRAM Mohammed Y. Eshbeata Laith Dawahir Wassim Shehadeh | Fteams Tomasz Ciejka Grzegorz Glonek Jacek Pintera Krzysztof Szokal-Egird | |
| 2010 [32] [33] | Xormis Shawn Mclean Derron Brown Dwayne Samuels Markel Mairs | Uptiva Dreams IT Hugo Rodrigues Edmiel Leandro Daniel Ferreira Eduardo Sonnino |  Chandradimuka Yudha Antawiryawan Kania Audrint Anggunmeka Luhur Prasasti Widyara Desgita | |
| 2011 | Team Alaniarides Giorgos Karakatsiotis Vangos Pterneas | Bells Team Daniel Ferreira Lucas Mello Amirton Chagas Joao Paulo dos Santos Oliveira | DemosceneSpirit Lukasz Michniewicz Szymon Majewski Marek Banaszak Magdalena Dudarska |
| 2008 | Team Mother Gaia StudioRafael Costa Guilhermr Campos Helena Van Kampen Tulio Marques Soria |  Drunk Puppy ProductionsKenny DeriemaekerTimothy Vanherberghen Filip Van Bouwel Jeroen Van Raevels | GomZDong HoonKim KiHwan Kim Min My Park |
| 2009 | Team LEVV ItLuciano José Edgar Neto Vinícius Ottoni Victor Rafael | Epsylon Games | Sanguine Labs |
| 2010 |  Team By Implication | NomNom Productions | Green Gears Studio |
| 2011 Mobile | Geekologic | Close World Mobile | Team DragonPierre Elias Eric Lee Veronica Burkel Chase Sandmann |
| 2011 Web | Cellardoor | Signum FideiThomas Tiam-Lee Jenina Chua Jeriah Miranda Keven Hernandez | Quegee Team |
| 2011 Windows/Xbox | Signum Games | JubJub[34] |  WickedTeam |
| 2012 Windows/Xbox[35] | TANG Thai[36] | ||
| 2014 | Brainy Studio | BOMON |  Illogic |
| 2015 | IzHard |  Kuality Games | Thief |
| 2016 | PH21 | ||
| 2005 | Stefan Plizga | Emanuel Pentescu |  Andreas Tomek | |
| 2006 | Andreas Tomek | Valy Greavu | Daniel Boteanu | |
| 2007 [37] | Zhifeng Chen | Romain Larmet | Ilie Cosmin Viorel | |
| 2008 | Jean-Benoit Paux | Cosmin Ilie | Yan Liu | |
| 2009 | Cosmin Ilie | Wu Chang | Miklos Cari Sivila | |
| 2010 | WeiQiu Wen | Miklos Cari Sivila | zxc1984 | |
| 2011 | Jean-Sébastien Duchêne | Błażej Matuszyk | Yunheng Mong |
| 2010 | Mirror Vita |  Dreaming Spirits | Woolgathering | |
| 2011 | M.N.A. |  Brothers Forever | CottonCandy |
| 2012 [38] | FifthElement ProjectMatteo Valoriani Antimo Musone Daniele Midi Antonio Vecchio | N/A | N/A |
| 2013 | Y Nots | N/A | N/A |
| 2013 |  Y Nots | nLife | LetssGo |
| 2011 | HOMERUN | Zipi Zigi | Lifelens Tristan Gibeau Cy Khormaee Wilson To Jason Wakizaka | |
| 2012 | Vivid Noureldien Hussein (Nour El-Dien Hussein) Muhammad El-Orabi Kariem El-Shazly | The Stack Karol Stosik |  AaltovationApurva Jaiswal Irena Prochkova Gitanjali Sachdeva Maimuna Syed |
| 2011 | Team India Rose Anthony Froissant José Martins | _dreambender_ |  IUVO |
| 2013 [39] | For a Better World | Omni-Hearing Solution | Foodbank Local | |
| 2014 [40] | Eyenaemia | SMART Crew | Access Earth Matthew McCann Jack Gallagher KC Grant Donal McClean | |
| 2015 [41] | Virtual Dementia Experience | Mozter | Prognosis | |
| 2016 [42] | AMANDA |  Night's Watch |  InSimu |
| 2013[43] | soundSYNK Robert Parker Alex Bochenski Jonathan Neumann Edward Noel |  Dora | SkyPACS | |
| 2014 | Estimeet Hayden Do Jason Wei Chris Duan Derek Zhu | Tep |  ButterFly | |
| 2015 [44] | eFitFashion |  NoObs Team | Siymb | |
| 2016 [45] | ENTy |  Bit Masters | HealthX |
| 2014 |  ij Developers | |||
| 2013 |  Team Ayni |
| 2014 | Tep Brainy Studio |
| 2014 | Drive Social Impact Eyenaemia Learning and Education  Code Buzzers Innovate and Collaborate  Super Sea Dragons |
| 2014 | Genesis LeapKin  Tutus  flipped.uy RELOAD Learn n' Earn BiDE Code AfriGal Tech Flow |
| 2014 | iGeek CodeBlue |
| 2014 | Pomato Apps |
| 2014 | World Citizenship Team HCI/d Games Team SiliconInnovation HirayaGabriel Eric Villanueva Jomarie Anne Marquez Neo John Tuquero |
| 2014 | World Citizenship Team Symbiote Games Team Sticky Bits Innovation Team Mote Labs | |||
| 2015 | World Citizenship Rapid Response |
| 2014 | World Citizenship Team Life Up Games Liaison Team Innovation  YouBeRu |
The Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator was a program that, between 2006 and 2008, provided Imagine Cup Software Design teams with direction on the next stage of developing their innovative ideas into a business. Each year, between 2006 and 2008, six teams were selected for the Innovation Accelerator program. Participants in the Innovation Accelerator program travelled to the Microsoft Mountain View campus in Silicon Valley and received technical support and business coaching to create the must-have technology and communications applications of the future.In 2010, Microsoft began inviting every Imagine Cup team to participate in its new program for startups: Microsoft BizSpark.[46] With this program, startups receive access to current, full-featured software development tools and platforms.[47]
Previous teams include:
A three-year, $3 million competitive grant program was established by Microsoft in 2011 to support a select number of winning teams’ solutions to go to market and realize its potential to solve a critical global problem. The inaugural grant recipients were announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 27, 2012, which included the following teams:
The grant packages include US$75,000 for each team, as well as software, cloud computing services, solution provider support, premium Microsoft BizSpark account benefits and access to local resources such as the Microsoft Innovation Centers. Microsoft will also connect grant recipients with its network of investors, nongovernmental organization partners and business partners.
For the 2012 version of the competition, the following teams were announced in December 2012. The teams are:
Imagine Cup participants from around the world who won their regional competitions in 2010 have been recognized by their government leaders.[48] In October 2010, two Imagine Cup 2010 United States finalists (Wilson To [49] from the Mobilifeteam and Christian Hood from BeastWare) were invited to participate in the White House Science Fair. New Zealand's Prime Minister, Hon. John Key sent Team OneBeep from New Zealand a personal letter that congratulated them on their third-place finish.Team Skeek from Thailand, winners of the 2010 Software Design competition, met Dr. Khunying Kalaya Sophonpanich, a member of Parliament and Secretary General of The Rajapruek Institute Foundation.Microsoft Poland and members of the European Parliament hosted the “Pushing the Boundaries of Innovation” conference in Brussels. Imagine Cup teams from Poland (fteams and Mutants), Serbia (TFZR), Germany (Mediator), and Belgium (Nom Nom Productions) were in attendance. Greek Imagine Cup winners, Giorgos Karakatsiotis and Vangos Pterneas, of Megadodo, met with the Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou, and demonstrated their project that creates personalized descriptions of museum exhibits based on the user's needs.Teams Xormis and Educ8 from Jamaica were honored with a special luncheon hosted by the Government of Jamaica that included an address from Hon. Bruce Golding, the prime minister. Team Think Green had the opportunity to meet with Ivo Josipović, President of Croatia.[50]