Team WaCoMo swept to victory in the Qatar finals of the sixth edition of Microsoft’s Imagine Cup 2017, a global technology competition that aims to deliver educational, entrepreneurial and employment opportunities for youth by acquiring critical skills.
The event took place under patronage of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), and attended by Hassan al-Hail, adviser to HE the Minister of Transport & Communications; Reem al-Mansoori, undersecretary – Digital Society Sector Development, MoTC; and Dana Shell Smith, US ambassador to Qatar.
Sponsored by Qatar Datamation Systems (QDS), Information and Communications Technology WLL and Ebla Computer Consultancy, the competition this year – ‘Celebrating 15 years of awesome’ – provided a platform for young developers to showcase innovative, world-changing solutions to industry experts, according to a press statement.
The Qatar national finals involved the participation of teams WaCoMo and HIAme from Qatar University (QU), Qfill from QU and College of the North Atlantic – Qatar, and Team 4C from Carnegie Mellon University.
All project submissions from the teams were in line with MoTC’s vision for Smart Qatar, a roadmap that revolves around full utilisation of innovative, IT-based, sophisticated technologies to facilitate Qatar’s future growth.
Team WaCoMo from QU took first place for their project WaCoMo, which was aimed at providing an interactive visualisation of the water consumption happening at different outlets in a property, eventually reducing wastage. This team will go on to meet the region’s top talent at the Imagine Cup MEA semi-finals in Lebanon in May, on a path to compete with the best young innovators in the worldwide finals, in Seattle, US, for the Imagine Cup trophy and a prize of $100,000.
Hassan al-Hail, Adviser to the Minister of Transport & Communications said: “The Ministry of Transport and Communications supports and prioritises innovation and entrepreneurship, and constantly engages with young innovators to provide them with access to business opportunities.”
All finalist teams will also have the opportunity to be incubated by MoTC’s Digital Incubation Centre (DIC). Prior to Imagine Cup, Microsoft also partnered with the MoTC for a Code Camp during Qitcom 2017 in an effort to work together towards boosting the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Qatar.
The Imagine Cup Qatar 2017 winner will get the opportunity to work together with DIC for MoTC’s Smart Qatar Programme.
“Technology and innovation have an immense power to make a difference in our world, and Microsoft builds on this incredible ambition to support the youth of Qatar with flagship initiatives like Imagine Cup”, said Lana Khalaf, acting country manager, Microsoft Qatar.
Four finalists were shortlisted to compete this year in Qatar. Team WaCoMo included members Omran Adnan Alrashid Abazeed, Youssef Akram al-Hariri, Naram Sultan Mhaisen and their mentor Dr Osama Halabi.
Team 4C’s Ameera Tag, Shobiitaa Krishna, Ibrahim Soltan and their mentor Mohamed al-Dousari’s project was focused on the Data Analysis of traffic movement for businesses in order to help them with advertisement of their goods in best possible time.
Team Qfill, which included members Azharul Islam, Amaan Sheikh and Ihthisham Mohamed, developed an application for subscription-based fuel delivery service that will help the users order delivery, track location and monitor real-time status and other data of their vehicles.
Team HIAme members Manel Fethi Ferjani, Sarah al-Hussaini, Yasmine Barkallah and their mentor Fatma al-Mansoori created a mobile application to enable people in long transits find suitable information or activities to do at Hamad International Airport.
The team of judges for the Qatar finals to select the winners included Duha al-Buhendi, Marketing and Entrepreneurs Engagement, MoTC’s Digital Incubation Centre; Dr Jaideep Srivastava, chief scientist, Qatar Computing Research Institute; Mashael al-Hammadi, Employment Programmes director, Silatech Qatar; Abdul Salam Knio, managing partner, Information and Communication Technology WLL; and Mohamed Alam; general manager, QDS.
This year, Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform was a mandatory tool for all the submitted projects.
With roadshows conducted in leading universities across Qatar, including QU, Carnegie Mellon University, Texas A&M University and College of the North Atlantic, the competition has reached more than 250 students this year, the statement adds.
Some of the dignitaries who attended the event.
