Microsoft Corporation in collaboration with OmanTel has announced the launch of its Imagine Cup 2013 Competition in Oman, inviting students between the ages of 16 to 23 to take part in the leading student technology competition.

The national winner team will represent Oman in the Imagine Cup 2013 Worldwide Finals taking place in St Petersburg, Russia between July 8 and 13.

Supported by its strategic partners, and in cooperation with Knowledge Oman, Microsoft will organise a road show to various universities across the Sultanate to give students the chance to learn more about Imagine Cup and how they can participate in this worldwide annual competition, a statement from the company said.

The Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition. Over the past ten years, more than 1.65 million students from more than 190 countries have participated in the Imagine Cup.

During the strategic partnerships signing ceremony, Sheikh Saif Hilal Al Hosni, business development manager for Microsoft Oman, said: “Imagine Cup competition is the first step in a lifelong journey for a young entrepreneur, inventor, designer, developer or innovator.”

“With this 11th session of Imagine Cup competition, we aim at inspiring more students from all academic backgrounds to collaborate on applications and seize opportunities to impact the Omani community as well as the world.”

Dr Salim Al Ruzaiqi, chief executive of ITA, said: “We strongly believe in the potential of our youth, and thank Microsoft for presenting them with such a unique opportunity to challenge themselves, achieve their ambitions and represent the Sultanate internationally.”

“Our collaboration comes as part of our continuous efforts to help support and develop Omani youth skills and innovation in IT; we are keen to promote, inspire, empower and support the Sultanate’s future generation and help them succeed.”

“We are pleased to support Microsoft’s Imagine Cup Competition for another session in Oman, and we are excited to witness the hype this initiative creates within the young community in the Sultanate,” said Dr Amer Al Rawas, chief executive for Omantel. “This collaboration comes in line with our commitment to supporting opportunities that help young Omanis flourish into the leaders of tomorrow.”

More than 300 students took part in last year’s session of Imagine Cup Competition in Oman; the national winner was Team Grawesome from Sultan Qaboos University. The winning project “Blood it” is a system that monitors the blood supply in a blood bank.

In case of shortage in a specific blood type, or in case of emergency, a GPS system locates the nearest registered donors and automatically sends an SMS. The viable donor has to acknowledge the SMS and confirm their availability to donate; otherwise, the next-in-line donor will be contacted. The system takes into account the blood units needed and contacts enough donors accordingly.

To inspire more students globally and encourage a wider variety of aspiring innovators to participate, Microsoft has redesigned Imagine Cup around three new core competitions built on the core elements that have been most popular with students in the past 10 years — social impact and gaming — while expanding the competition’s focus on innovation and entrepreneurship.

In Imagine Cup 2013, students may compete in world citizenship, games and innovation, the first place prizes of each which will be $50,000.

The event is being held under the auspices of the Information Technology Authority (ITA) – TradeArabia News Service