Bangkok--17 Aug--Hill & Knowlton Program aims to foster local innovation, enabling job opportunities and help promotes Thai software innovations to international level Microsoft Thailand Limited today announced its Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator program - the next step to turn in Imagine Cup winning team software application — “Live Book” into business realities. The team will be participating in an intensive two-week intensive business and technology training in England in January 2008. “The Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator works to turn the winning application into tangible and practical business reality that conforms to international standards,” said Patama Chantaruck, Managing Director of Microsoft (Thailand) Limited. “The success of the Thai winning team not only shows very high potential of Thai students, but is also a turning point that will inspire other Thai developers and all concerned parties in the Thai software ecosystem to create and foster local innovation to compete on the global stage.” In addition to contributing the trophy and $25,000 cash prize, Microsoft (Thailand) Limited will further facilitate the team’s efforts in the next stage of developing their innovative ideas as a practical business reality by: Engaging the winning team into the Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator program to provide students with technical support and business coaching to create the must-have technology and communications applications of the future with two-week close guidance by expert in England to further develop their designs and viable business plans. This will increase the potential for the team to commercialize their solution. Exploring opportunities for the team to access both local and international venture capital. Hosting a trip for the winning team to visit Microsoft Campus and meet with Microsoft executives in Redmond USA. Hosting a trip for the winning team to visit Microsoft Research Lab in Beijing, China to further extend their vision. Transferring knowledge on how the team can commercialize their intellectual property through the “Local Hero” program where the students will be exposed and trained on how they can properly register their IP and license their software to become local Independent Software Vendor (ISV). Showcasing the winning solutions at the soon-to-be-launched Microsoft Innovation Center where customers, partners, the academic community and the software industry meet to share local innovations. They can also use the facility from Microsoft Innovation Center to further develop their innovations. Providing opportunities for the winning team in various customer and partner events and road show arranged by Microsoft, solutions will be highlighted to share pride and joy as well as to motivate local software industries. This will create their business opportunity to become reality. “Imagine Cup competition is regarded as a significant project of Microsoft Thailand which aims to transform education, foster local innovation and create job opportunities,” added Patama. “Imagine Cup competition meets those three goals by creating an opportunity for Thai students to explore and learn by themselves by using technology to create useful innovations for our country. All the creative innovations will eventually be developed and become commercial realities in both local and international market which return in the form of jobs and income for the whole country.” The “Live Book” application is owned by “3KC Returns” - the winning team of Imagine Cup 2007. Members of the team include: Vasan Chienmaneetaveesin from Chulalongkorn University, Prachaya Phaisanwiphatpong, Jatupon Sukkasem and Pathompol Saeng-Uraiporn from Kasetsart University. The “Live Book” application enables the poorly educated to enhance their reading, writing and listening skills by simply placing any text-book in front of Web Camera, to allow the system to automatically capture the text and conduct character recognition, transforming the image into editable text. “Our ‘Live Book’ application was selected by the judging committee as the winning entry because it met all the criteria of the competition and Microsoft’s objective under the ‘Imagine a world where technology enables a better education for all’ theme,” said Prachaya Phaisanwiphatpong from Kasetsart University, a member of “3 KC returns” team. “Under this project, Microsoft aims at working hand in hand with the new generation developers for a social contribution via an application innovation that can develop education and improve people’s lives all over the world equipped with .NET Framework and Windows platform. One exciting aspect is that our innovative ideas and imagination can actually be implemented in real life.” The Thai software industry joins in this award celebration and is ready to encourage Thai local innovation to compete in global stage The Software Industry Promotion Agency (public organization) or SIPA — the organization responsible for guiding the Thai software industry to further develop and enable it to be competitive in an international setting — has been continuously cooperating with Microsoft (Thailand) through various projects in an attempt to support Thai developers. SIPA shows its appreciation in “3KC Returns” knowledgeable ability and overwhelming success. It believes that Thailand has a number of highly efficient developers and is willing to support them in a bid to strengthen the Thai software industry. “The new generation of Thai developers and this winning application is evidence that Thailand has a new generation of talented developers and highly internationally competitive,” said Dr. Niracharapa Tongdhamachart, Vice President, Software Industry Promotion Agency (Public Organization) (SIPA). “Microsoft’s Imagine Cup is one of the many social activities, to which SIPA and other public organizations are supportive to advance and strengthen the Thai software industry. SIPA has a direct role to support the Thai software industry development and is ready to work closely with all concerned parties for the industry’s consistent achievement,” she added. Software Park Thailand is another organization that has an important role in strengthening the Thai software industry for more than a decade. It has also played a role in continuously supporting the Imagine Cup competition with its Incubation Program. This program helps increase Thai students’ technical skills to leverage software applications for commercial purposes. “The great success of Thai winning team is the pride of Thai people. We are delighted that young Thai software developers have demonstrated their great potential in innovation and web services skills at international level,” said Suvipa Wannasatop, Director of Software Park Thailand. “This will reflect positively on Thai creative ideas and innovation that can shine on the global stage as a leading IT business. Microsoft’s Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator is in line with Software Park Thailand strategy that will play a vital role in helping to commercialize innovation of young Thai developers. Software Park Thailand is glad to support all kind of projects that can help strengthen Thai software ecosystem.” The next Imagine Cup 2008 will be held in Paris, France. The theme will be “Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment. Young talented developers who are interested in participating the competition are welcomed to register at www.imaginecup.com from August 25, 2007 onwards. About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Established in 1993, Microsoft (Thailand) Limited provides world-class software that is easy to use and localized to suit the local market’s needs. It also has a compelling and consistent platform to build powerful business solutions that can scale from a notebook computer to a mainframe — class multiprocessor systems using Microsoft technology. For further information, information, please visit the Microsoft (Thailand) website at: http://www.microsoft.com/thailand. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. For further information, please contact: Suphada JaideeHill & Knowlton ThailandTel: 0-2627 3501 ext 209Fax. 0-2627 3510Email: [email protected] Click for photo release at www.thaipr.net