Bangkok--6 Aug--Hill & Knowlton Thailand Microsoft Announces Imagine Cup 2008 Winners Students address environmental sustainability with innovative technology; torch passes to Egypt for Imagine Cup 2009. Microsoft Corp. announced the winners of Imagine Cup 2008 at the Mus?e du Louvre, after a week of intense competition among finalists chosen from a pool of more than 200,000 students from over 100 countries and regions. Celebrating first place, Australia’s Team SOAK won the worldwide Software Design invitational, Singapore’s Team Trail Blazers won the Embedded Development invitational, and Brazil’s Mother Gaia Studio won the Game Development challenge. Imagine Cup, the world’s premier competition for technology students, gives students the chance to unlock their creative genius and build solutions that tackle real-world issues facing society today. “Imagine Cup provides a forum for students around the world to explore new ways to use the power of software to help address some of the world’s toughest challenges,” said S. Somasegar, senior vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft. “The high caliber of the students and their projects is evidence of the high level of innovation seen in the student community today, with a clear potential for real-world impact.” A total of 370 students from 124 teams representing 61 countries and regions competed in the worldwide Imagine Cup finals. The software design, embedded development and game development finalist teams created applications, devices and games using the Microsoft platform and Microsoft tools based on the Imagine Cup competition theme “Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment.” Other categories include “Project Hoshimi” (Programming Battle), IT Challenge, Algorithm, Photography, Short Film and Interface Design. The following are the top three finalists by invitational in finishing order: Software Design - First place: Australia — Team SOAK - Second place: Slovakia — Team Housekeepers - Third place: Hungary — Team DigitalMania Embedded Development - First place: Singapore — Team Trail Blazers - Second place: TIE Ireland — Team AcidRain China — Team Wings - Third place: Poland — Team Aero@PUT Game Development - First place: Brazil — Team Mother Gaia Studio - Second place: Belgium — Team Drunk Puppy Productions - Third place: Korea — Team GOMZ Furthermore, six finalist teams will have the opportunity to explore how their software solutions could potentially turn into business realities. The teams will receive intense business and technology training as part of the Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator program, co-sponsored by Microsoft and British Telecommunications plc (BT). “The creativity demonstrated by the competitors this year has shown that tomorrow’s technology leaders are ready to apply their solutions to real-world issues,” said Joe Black, director of Business Development for Emerging Technologies, BT. “The Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator is an exceptional opportunity for young developers to explore the entrepreneurial possibilities of their software solutions. We are excited to offer our encouragement, guidance, and support to these talented students through comprehensive training sessions to help students bring their ideas to fruition.” Sarut Udomkarn, a member of SKE team, representative from Thailand said “I am very proud to be Thailand’s representative for Imagine Cup 2008. Even though our team didn’t receive any award, we don’t regret it since what we gain is valuable experience. I also have a chance to exchange ideas with other teams from around the world who have the same interest in developing software. I would like to encourage everyone to join this project since it is very productive and beneficial. It is also a great opportunity to develop our capacity and develop the software that helps improve society.” Imagine Cup 2009 will be held in Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt. The theme will be “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems facing us today.” Students will be asked to create software solutions that are aligned to one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The eight MDGs range from halving extreme poverty and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS to providing universal primary education. More information about the MDGs can be found at http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals. Registrations for Imagine Cup 2009 open today, July 8, 2008. More information about Imagine Cup can be found at http://www.imaginecup.com. 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 Chaiwong Hill & Knowlton Thailand Tel: 0-2627 3501 ext 209 Fax. 0-2627 3510 Email: [email protected]