ARMENIAN STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN "IMAGINECUP" CONTEST FOR FIRST TIME
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenian students will participate
for the first time in "ImagineCup" international contest held by
Microsoft, with the final stage of the contest to take place in Paris
in July 2008, NT correspondent was informed by Grigor Barseghian, the
director of Microsoft RA company – Microsoft’s Armenian subsidiary.
This annual contest has been held since 2003.
According to G. Barseghian, the use of information technologies in
education is the subject of "ImagineCup 2007", while the subject of the
2008 contest is related to environmental protection. The teams, which
must be composed of up to 4 students and a lecturer, may already
register at or the website of the same name in .ru
domain. The contest has nominations on software solutions, photos and
videofilms. The prize fund for the international finals is 200 thousand
dollars.
G. Barseghian said that the teams to reach the final stage, which will
be held in Armenia in late May or early June 2008, will receive prizes,
while the best team will take part in the international finals in
Paris. Armenian teams may also participate in the contest by sending
their works to the website, and the travel expenses of the teams to
reach the international finals in this way will be financed by
Microsoft. By the way, Synopsys Armenia and some other companies of the
IT sector have expressed their intention to contribute to the prize
fund of the Armenian finals.
In the words of Miscrosoft RA’s director, ideas proposed by student
teams during the contest may become a commercial product. It is
possible that either the teams will form companies for further
development of these ideas, or these ideas and products created on
their basis will be purchased by other companies. "On the other hand,
the participation in "ImagineCup" will demonstrate our youth’s
potential in the IT sector. It will encourage investments in the
educational system," he added.
G. Barseghian said that the Enterprise Incubator Foundation and the
USAID Competitive Armenian Private Sector (CAPS) Program will assist
Microsoft RA in the organization of Armenian teams’ participation in
the contest.