Kathmandu, April 23, 2016:Â Imagine Cup Nepal 2016, a three month long competition jointly organized by Microsoft Innovation Centre (MIC) Nepal and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) came to an end with the announcement of the winners for the competition and awarding the finalists this Friday.
The world is changing and it is getting harder for us to cope with the environment that is degrading by the day because of pollution, global warming and many other human induced problems. The ideas in the competitions had to be on the theme of nature conservation and wildlife protection along with coping with these problems. The competition sought to bond nature, wildlife and technology and plan for a sustainable development along with giving a platform for the budding tech-developers to showcase their talent and enabling them to solve the problem that the world is facing.
Altogether nine finalist teams were awarded with trophies while 50 other teams with great ideas were also awarded with prizes. The winners were chosen on the basis of innovation, viability and impact of their products by a four-member jury team comprising of Mike Chisholm –a Software entrepreneur from New-Zealand, Alok Kumar Pandey, CTO at Braindigit, Amrit Man Tuladhar, CEO at Muncha.com and Aakash Shrestha from WWF Nepal.
The teams The Lernables, Tech Yard, and Visually IMpaired became the first winners in the categories Games, Innovation and World Citizenship category respectively. Similary, C4, Wever and The Echo secured the second positions while Soul Maintain, Pioneer Squad and Assar Tech managed to come as the third winners in these categories.
Ojash Shrestha, team leader at The Learnables, explains his product as a special game for the people suffering from Dyslexia i.e. learning impairment. “It just helps them to learn alphabets, numbers, words and sentences,†said he. “We have already made a prototype and the fully functional design will be ready in the next three months.â€
Similarly, Sangita Waiba, maker of the Pioneer Squad, the third winner in the Innovation category sharing about her project, explained that ‘Pioneer Squad’ is a special pot that uses sensors to sense the fingers of a person. The pot itself will transfer water in a glass so that disabled person or those who cannot take out the water to the glasses will be facilitated with this. “Just when you motion your finger in the pot, it will prepare a glass of water for you,†said she.
Wever – a system made by Kaushal Wagle and friends, is a water automation system. Talking about the product, he said, “This system is all about smart technology that controls the water pump according to the water level in the water tank. Using this app, we can remotely control the motor through our internet-connected mobile device. It saves water from being wasted.
Allen Bailochan Tuladhar, Director at MIC Nepal said that it feels great to have such a great number of participants in the competition. “Last year there were only 20 teams as finalists in the competition, whereas this year the number has reached 40,†said he. “It’s more likely that we are reaching the worldwide finals in Seattle this time again since all the three winning ideas seem original and real solutions to the real world problems.â€
The first winners from each category will be competing online in the Asia-Pacific semi-finals where teams from 37 countries are competing together. Seven teams selected from the competition will be going to Seattle, Microsoft Headquarters in USA for the final round of the competition.
Photo Courtesy: Allen Bailochan Tuladhar
By Basanta Kumar Dhakal
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