Microsoft Canada Announces Student Winners of Imagine Cup 2012

Team from George Brown College representing Canada in the software design category at the worldwide finals in Australia

TORONTO, May 10, 2012 /CNW/ - Showcasing some of the country's brightest young minds, Microsoft Canada is proud to announce the winners of the 2012 Imagine Cup Canada, a design competition that encourages students to change the world through the innovative use of the latest technology tools.

Team Greeni, from George Brown College, won the software design category and will represent Canada at the worldwide finals in Sydney, Australia. Team Project Beacon, from Carleton University, won the Windows 7 phone game design category.

This year marks the 10^th anniversary of the Imagine Cup, one of the world's premier student technology competitions. This year, Microsoft Canada selected six finalists from high schools and post-secondary schools across the country in two categories - software design and Windows Phone 7 game design - to compete in the national championship at the University of Waterloo on April 30.

These students, fuelled by Microsoft-based technology, were inspired to develop innovative ways to address some of the world's biggest problems such as healthcare in developing countries and rural areas, climate change, world hunger, and medical research.

Winning the software design category, George Brown students Timur Sharaftinov, Alecsander Granger, Vasily Gurin, and Dmitry Zhivotovsky created a solution to help save energy. Called Greeni, their solution uses Microsoft Kinect, light and carbon dioxide sensors and programming logic in the cloud on Windows Azure to monitor workspaces and determine when lighting and ventilation systems should be active. A pilot project in their school lab produced energy savings.

"Great ideas don't accomplish much if they remain on paper," says team mentor Leo Salemi, a faculty member from the Centre for Construction and Engineering Technologies at George Brown College. "I'm very proud of Team Greeni and we are thrilled to be given the opportunity to showcase how we used technology to turn our ideas into reality at Imagine Cup 2012 in Australia."

Winning the Windows Phone 7 game design category are students Gar Lam, Clark McGillis, Curtis Field, and Eva Demers-Brett, along with mentor Jean-Sylvain Sormany, from Carleton University, who developed a game demonstrating the impact of human activity on the planet. Players in the game help an astronaut, who has returned from space to find earth polluted, solve puzzles to clean up the earth before his oxygen runs out.

"I am extremely impressed and inspired by our winners, our six finalists and all our student competitors at this year's Imagine Cup. They clearly demonstrated the amazing things that can happen when we mix education, intuition, creativity and drive to transform technology into global solutions," said Gladstone Grant, Vice President, Developer & Platform Group, Microsoft Canada Inc. "These students have shown they have what it takes to make a real difference, and Microsoft is proud to be able to give them the platform to display their skills on the world stage."

The Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals takes place from July 6 to 10 in Sydney Australia, where the winners from each local software design competition and the top 10 international finalists in the Windows 7 Game Design category will compete for global titles.

About Imagine Cup

The Microsoft Imagine Cup is one of the world's premier student technology competition.  Eligible students from around the world are invited to use their imagination and passion to create a technology solution that addresses the Imagine Cup 2012 theme: Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problem. In ten years, the Imagine Cup has grown to be a truly global competition focused on finding solutions to real-world problems. Since 2003, more than 1.4 million students have participated in the Imagine Cup with 358,000 students representing 183 countries and regions registering for the Imagine Cup 2011 competition. This year, the Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals take place in Sydney, Australia from July 6-10. For more information on Imagine Cup, please visit http://www.imaginecup.com/.

About Microsoft Canada

Established in 1985, Microsoft Canada Inc. is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq "MSFT") the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. Headquartered in Mississauga, Microsoft Canada has nine regional offices across the country dedicated to empowering people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. For more information on Microsoft Canada, please visit www.microsoft.ca.

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