MANILA, Philippines May 2, 2014—Microsoft Philippines in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology – Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICT Office) has announced the three winning teams of the Imagine Cup Philippine Finals.
Imagine Cup, which is currently at its 12th year, is the world’s premier student technology competition. The competition provides students across all disciplines the opportunity to use their creativity, passion and knowledge of technology to create applications, games and solutions that solve the toughest problems in the world today.
Three teams top the Games, Innovation and World Citizenship categories of the Imagine Cup local finals.Winning teams stand tall and eager to represent the Philippines in the Asian Finals.[L-R] Paul Villena, John Jethro Ganzon, Mark Erwin Villariña and Yvette Watson of Team Tala; Charlene Ho, Patricia Alonzo, and FlerizzaSanidad of Team Animus; Joyce Guiao, Miguel Maningo(Team Animus), Oliver Syson, Mark Castillo of Team Pew Pew.
During the finals held at the Casa Blanca in Intramuros, three teams were declared winners representing each category – Games, Innovation, and World Citizenship. The winning teams received Php 50,000, BizSpark membership, andwill represent the Philippines in the Asian finals.
Team TALA, winner of World Citizenship category, presented ReLink—an app that will help people sell their pre-loved belongings instead of throwing them away. Team Animus topped the Games category with FitPals, an app that combined fitness & play and utilized the power of Xbox Kinect to enable children to remain active. Team PewPew conquered the Innovation category by adding a touch of personalization to storytelling with FUNIMALS, an app that generates stories based on pictures selected by children.
Included in the roster of judges that selected the winning solutions were Atty. Marco Sardillo III (Intramuros Administrator), Monchito Ibrahim (Industry Development Director for DOST – ICTO), Bettina Quimson (e-Society Group Director for DOST – ICTO), Anthony Esporlas (Product Manager for Games for SMART), Paul Pajo (Senior Developer Evangelist for SMART), and Earljohn Hidalgo (Chief Technology Officer for the Vibal Group).
“We are very proud of all contestants and are impressed with the solutions that were presented during the finals. We hope that Imagine Cup serves as a platform that will encourage more Filipino youth to aspire to build that next big innovation that could positively impact the lives of the Filipino people.” said Alvin Gendrano, Director for the Developer and Platform Group for Microsoft Philippines.
Team Hiraya with representatives from Microsoft Philippines. [L-R] Duchess Domagsang, Academic Programs Specialist for Microsoft Philippines; Gabriel Eric Villanueva, Jomarie Anne Marques; Noel John Tuquero; John Paul Sibug, Audience Marketing Manager for Microsoft Philippines
Team Hiraya from the Philippines also won first place in the Innovation Category of the Worldwide Imagine Cup 2014 Online User Experience Challenge. The team’s project unified automated information from trains, buses, and taxis to enable users to find the best available transportation options when commuting.
“Technology has the ability to improve the way we do things.We are proud to be part of Microsoft’s Imagine Cup because it has given us the channel to transform our passions into opportunities to create a lasting impact in our community. We hope that Imagine cup inspires Filipino youth who are passionate about technology to do the same.” said Gabriel Eric Villanueva, Winner of the Worldwide Imagine Cup Online User Experience Challenge for the Innovation Category.
More than 1.65 million students from more than 190 countries have participated in Imagine Cup over the past 10 years. To date, over 1,000 young Filipinos have been given the opportunity to transform their ideas into wonderful apps through this prestigious competition.
Imagine Cup was made possible with the help of SMARTDevNet and the Intramuros Administration. To learn more about imagine cup visit www.imaginecup.com.
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You may also wish to see the semifinalists here and Microsoft’s campaign for the youth to learn to code here.
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