Bangkok--12 Jul--Hill & Knowlton
Microsoft announces team ‘SkeeK’ from Kasetsart University as winners of the Imagine Cup 2010 software design contest in Poland; emphasizing the potential of Thai students to develop innovative software applications.
Microsoft (Thailand) Limited, led by Patama Chantaruck, Managing Director and top executives have joined a lively welcome-home celebration at Suvarnabhumi Airport to congratulate the Worldwide Imagine Cup 2010 winners. After a week of intense competition among finalists chosen from a total of 300,000 students from more than 100 different countries, team ‘SKeeK’ from Thailand took the grand title at the worldwide software design competition after impressing the judges with the exceptional creativity shown in their ‘eyeFeel’ application, designed to help the hard of hearing communicate with others. Taking home a cash prize of $25,000 (approximately 800,000 baht), the victory makes Thailand the first country in the world to ever win the award twice and the first Asian country to receive an award in this category — offering further evidence of the great potential of Thai students to come up with new innovations that can really make an impact on the world around us.
Now in its eighth year, Imagine Cup is open to university-level students from all over the world. The contest encourages students to take a more active interest in software application development by coming up with new applications that can truly solve social problems, with this year’s entrants asked to base their designs on the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals and the statement ‘Imagine a world where technology helps solve the problems facing us today.’ After local finals were held around the world, the top teams from each country were then invited to participate in the worldwide final, which was this year held in Warsaw, Poland.
The ‘SKeeK’ team from the Department of Computer Engineering, Kasetsart University (comprising of Krithee Sirisith, Pichai Sodsai, Thanasunn Dilokpinitnun and Nonthawat Srichad), chose to address the needs of the hearing-impaired with their original ‘eyeFeel’ application. Designed to help bridge the gap between the hard of hearing and others, the innovative application creates an augmented reality environment that brings together speech and face recognition in order to convert spoken English into text, with the aid of a virtual conversation text balloon and sign-language animations displayed in real-time. Currently the ‘eyeFeel’ application supports English language, but plans are afoot to develop Thai-language support in the future.
“It is admirable to see Thai students put so much effort into developing such a useful application and it was a heartwarming moment to see the SkeeK team win,” said Patama Chantaruck, Managing Director, Microsoft (Thailand) Limited. “All of us at Microsoft Thailand are so excited about the result and doubly proud since this is now the second time that Thai students have won first place during the final round. These Thai students have demonstrated with their innovative application and impressive presentations that they have what it takes to rise up and become leaders in the technology and business world. We have always believed in the potential of Thai developers and this win is further evidence that applications developed by Thais are worthy of being adopted on a global scale, which will bring about positive sustainable growth for the country’s software industry in the long-term.”
Speaking with a deservedly-proud smile, Pichai Sodsai, a member of the SKeeK team said, “It was a fantastic moment when we heard that we had won, but besides the victory we feel that we have gained valuable experiences from the whole process that we could not have gained from a classroom alone. We are proud to be the ones waving the Thai flag on this global stage and this just shows that applications developed by Thai students can compete in the wider world. Like all of the teams who entered, we don't wait for the future - we create the future and change the world."
In addition to team SKeeK, this year also marked the first time that two teams from Thailand have made it to the final round. In the category of embedded development, SuperLove Factory team from King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi made it to the final six finalists for their BrailleEye application, which creates simulated images through special processing technology for blind people. Another Thai team was JubJub from Mahidol University, whose ‘Junk Master’ application, designed to encourage people to learn the importance of recycling, made it to the final three finalists in the Game Design category.
Microsoft Thailand will now work to help team SkeeK further improve the efficiency of their application and use it to promote the local software industry. The copyright of the application will remain fully under the SKeeK students.
Imagine Cup 2011 will be held in New York, USA and will maintain a theme of ‘Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment’. Entries to the 2011 competition will be open for Thai students to enter later this year. For full details and information, please visit the official Imagine Cup website at www.microsoft.com/thailand/imaginecup.
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