Microsoft Oman in partnership with Omantel and Information Technology Authority (ITA) concluded the roadshow of the 2015 Imagine Cup national competition.

Microsoft Imagine Cup, a cornerstone of the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative, is the world’s premier student technology programme and competition targeting students between the ages of 16 and 24 years from all academic backgrounds.

Sheikh Saif Hilal Al Hosni, business development manager for Microsoft Oman, said: “We are thrilled to host a new season of Imagine Cup 2015 for our students in the Sultanate. Through Imagine Cup, we aim to inspire student developers to create innovative solutions that change the way we live, work and play while also growing the skills they need to pursue a future in technology.

“We encourage all students from the different universities in Oman to register, form teams, dream big and work hard to create fantastic new technology projects.”

The Imagine Cup 2015 roadshow visited Higher College of Technology, Modern College of Business and Science (MCBS) and Sultan Qaboos University (SQU).

More than 700 students were targeted in the seminars and presentations delivered by the Imagine Cup team and over 100 registrations were received.

Dr Salim Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, chief executive officer of ITA, said: “We are happy to take part in a new season of Imagine Cup and are grateful to Microsoft for hosting this global initiative that provides our students the opportunity to learn through the competition, help them drive new skill development and inspire collaboration and teambuilding.”

Talal Said Al Mamari, Omantel’s CEO, said: “Through the years, Imagine Cup had become a national quest for Omani talents, and our youth have succeeded to surprise us and make us proud year after year. We are pleased to renew our support to Microsoft Imagine Cup for the 2015 competition as it falls in line with our aim to develop young talent and encourage them build on their ICT skills.”

The three national winners will join more than 30 teams from around the Arab World at the Imagine Cup Pan-Arab Semi-Finals to be held in Manama, Baharin in May.

The Pan-Arab Semi-Finals comes to recognise Microsoft’s commitment to empowering young entrepreneurs in the region; it also answers to the growing participation of contestants from around the Arab world and encourage them to stand out for a chance to represent the Arab nation at the Worldwide Finals taking place in Seattle this summer.

“Our growing youth population in the region is facing many challenges such as education and unemployment, promoting innovation as a competitiveness advantage is imperative to create jobs for the increasing number of job seekers. Creating jobs in the Arab region requires robust growth in the SME sector as well as Entrepreneurship,” added Sheikh Saif.

Imagine Cup is a cornerstone of the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative, the Microsoft’s commitment to creating opportunities for 300 million youth by 2015. Students partaking in Imagine Cup competition often participate in other YouthSpark programs such as DreamSpark and the Microsoft Student Partner (MSP) programme to help build their skillset, further develop their projects and help bring their ideas to life.

DreamSpark, also a part of the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative, provides professional developer tools and resources to students at no cost; students participating in Imagine Cup utilise the resources available to them through DreamSpark to help further develop their projects on Microsoft Platforms.

This year’s Imagine Cup will continue featuring the three main competitions – Innovation, that honours apps that give consumers inspiration and innovation;  Games, that honours the most engaging and entertaining games targeting teens and youth, build on Microsoft platforms; and World Citizenship, that honours the software application developed on Microsoft platforms with the greatest potential to make a positive impact on humanity.

The first place prizes in the Worldwide Finals for World Citizenship, Games and Innovation will each be $50,000. - TradeArabia News Service