It was a keenly contested battle of wits and creative ingenuity among 12 teams that comprise students from Nigerian universities for the honour of who will represent the country at the 2013 Worldwide Imagine Cup competition in Russia come July.
At the end of the presentations by the 12 teams under the watchful of experience industry experts, members of the Life Saver team who are students of Obafemi Awolowo University and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology emerged winners.
Afolabi Olamide, Oluwole Michael, Akinlaja Solomon and Adewale Adeyinka, all members of Team Life Saver, competed in the category of World Citizenship. Their solution titled CardioLife is designed to tackle heart attack by monitoring heart reading on the fly via the Microsoft Windows Phone. The solution also provides a rehabilitation programme for stroke patients using the Kinect sensor.
In addition to winning the ticket to the global finals scheduled for St Petersburg, Russia in July 2013, Nokia would be giving each member of Team Life Saver its innovative smart phones, Nokia Lumia 920 devices while Dell Nigeria would present them with Dell Vestro laptops.
Speaking after his team won, Oluwole Michael said they are speechless to have won the competition and to have the opportunity to represent the country at the Worldwide Imagine Cup along with some of the brightest young minds.
According to him, “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to compete with students from around the globe who, like us, are passionate about making a difference in the world.”
Yinka Oni, National Technology officer for Microsoft Anglophone West Africa in his address at the event held in Lagos said each team that competed in the regional finals is deserving of the highest recognition for the creativity and imagination applied to some of the world’s biggest challenges.
“We’re proud to honour these young students who we believe truly exemplify the spirit of the Imagine Cup competition, and we’ll be cheering Team Life Saver on as they compete on the world stage in St Petersburg,” he said.
Oni revealed that Imagine Cup is also directly aligned with the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative that was launched earlier this year as it drives access to technology, innovation and world-class skills.
According to him, “We believe deeply that technology can accelerate growth for Africa, and Africa can also accelerate technology for the world, and we are honoured to engage with these young people to help bring their innovative ideas to fruition.”
On his part, Olumide Balogun, partner manager, Developer Experience Nokia West Africa applauded the winners on their victory. “We are proud of Team Life Saver for developing such an innovative solution which fetched them the ticket to showcase their talents on the world stage and more importantly, pleased at their smart delivery during the project presentation.
“We appreciate their efforts and hard work and hope they go on to win the cup at the worldwide finals in Russia,” he said. Balogun further commended Microsoft for their persistence at providing the platform for Nigerian youths to showcase their creativity and more importantly ensuring IT penetration in the country.
Imagine Cup is more than a competition. It is part of Microsoft’s YouthSpark initiative, to encourage young entrepreneurs, innovators and developers to have the opportunity to develop an idea, create a product, set a clear business plan and eventually take their product to market. All Imagine Cup Worldwide Finalist teams are eligible to apply for Imagine Cup Grants, a three-year USD3-million investment by Microsoft to help students turn their ideas into reality.
KELECHI EWUZIE
