The Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), Tamkeen, Microsoft and eGovernment Authority have announced the names of the winners of the 2015 Imagine Cup in Bahrain.

“Team Vanguards” won the Games category, “Team Storm” won the Innovation category, while “Team MyVoice” won the World Citizenship category, said a statement from the event.

The winning projects are as follows:

•    Conscious Heart project by “Team Vanguards” is a horror game that immerses players in an experience using virtual reality and biofeedback technologies. It is a game that undergoes changes according to the player’s heartbeat.

•    SCatcher project by “Team Storm” is a windows phone application that allows users to find images in their phones’ photo gallery by simply drawing a sketch of the wanted picture and use it as a search object.

•    EasyCom project by “Team MyVoice” aims to help in completely revolutionising the way mute people communicate and help creating a seamless way of communication between people who cannot speak and others.

The three winning teams will now advance to the Pan-Arab Finals taking place in Bahrain between May 31 and June 3.
 
The event will be held under the patronage of HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander, First Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB).

More than 100 students participated in this year’s round of Imagine Cup in Bahrain and over 46 team projects were received, representing most of the higher education institutions in the country. Nine teams qualified to the local finals in Bahrain, it added.

Khalid Al Rumaihi, chief executive of Bahrain EDB, said: “Every team participating today has demonstrated a high level of innovation, determination and professionalism.

“It is particularly encouraging to see our local talent taking advantage of events such as the Microsoft Imagine Cup which offer the perfect platform to showcase their creativity and capabilities to an international audience,” he said.

Congratulating the winning teams, Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, chairman and acting chief executive of Tamkeen, said: “This year’s projects and ideas revealed the skills and abilities of Bahrain’s youth in ICT, we are really optimistic about the future generation of local entrepreneurs.”

Essa Al Khalifa also thanked Microsoft for its continued commitment to Bahrain and its people and reiterated that Tamkeen’s partnership with Microsoft on Imagine Cup comes to shed light on the vital role technology – combined with local innovation - is playing in improving the daily lifestyle of the community.

Regional country manager for Microsoft in Bahrain and Oman Sherif Tawfik congratulated and commended the winning teams on their remarkable projects.

“Moving to the regional and global rounds of Imagine Cup is amazing but it is not the most important thing, the contest aims to provide students with the opportunity to learn through all the different stages of the competition and help them acquire new skills.

“All nine teams have great potential, and armed with their enthusiasm and creativity the Imagine Cup is the first step in their journey to success,” Tawfik added.

The three winners from Bahrain will join more than other 30 Arab teams to compete for the Imagine Cup Pan-Arab title, and will have the opportunity to represent the Arab nation at the Worldwide Finals taking place in Seattle this July, it added. – TradeArabia News Service