Last week 87 student teams from 71 countries converged in St. Petersburg, Russia, to compete in the Microsoft Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals. An exciting and vibrant event, Imagine Cup challenges students to use technology to solve the toughest problems in the world. The year-long contest first has students compete in local events for a spot in the finals. Projects are entered into six competitions: Games, Innovation, World Citizenship, Windows 8, Windows Phone and Windows Azure. Of the dozens of innovative projects, quite a few addressed issues in sustainability, from waste management to beekeeping. These are a few of our favorites:
Team Confufish Royale
Team Confufish Royale from Australia built Foodback Local to address the problem of food distribution on a community level. The app enables businesses to donate excess food more easily as well as providing information about food charities that need volunteers. Food distribution has often historically been approached from a low-tech perspective, and Team Confufish is hoping to change that. Learn more about Team Confufish Royale and Foodbank Local here.
Team Beezinga
Competing in the World Citizenship Competition and hailing from Slovenia, Team Beezinga has developed an app of the same name that is an analytics system for beekeepers. Drawing inspiration from a tradition of beekeeping in their home country and the timely topic of colony collapse disorder, their app helps industrial and large beekeepers optimize production by measuring the temperature, humidity and honey production of the hive. Learn more about Team Beezinga and the Beezinga app here.
Team Greenmust
Morocco’s Team Greenmust entered a project around global waste into the Innovation Competition. The team has developed a web and mobile platform to connect recyclers to trash producers to minimize waste. The app uses geolocation to bring them together to negotiate transactions and ultimately divert waste from landfills. Learn more about Team Greenmust and their app here.
Team Vertigo
Bulgaria’s Team Vertigo entered a pollution reduction app, Driving Mate, into the World Citizenship Competition. The team was inspired to build an app to reduce pollution when they learned that approximately 20 percent of emissions in the European Union are from road transportation. The app calculates real-time fuel efficiency and gives suggestions to the driver about shifting gears to minimize fuel consumption. Data is also sent to the app’s website to build a custom driver profile. Learn more about Team Vertigo and their project here.
Microsoft believes in advancing the world’s understanding of environmental challenges and enabling solutions rooted in technology innovation. We salute the Imagine Cup competitors who are working to do that and wish them success in their endeavors. Learn more about the competition here.