Microsoft announces Imagine Cup Grant Winner

Microsoft announced the winners on December 9th of the second annual Imagine Cup Grants, in which the Egyptian Team Vivid wins a US$50,000 grant for its solution called Health Buzz that helps healthcare service providers to access patients’ electronic medical records through a secure cloud based storage system. It is built to service patients and physicians through a phone apps, tablets or PCs.

Imagine Cup is a three year US $3 million competitive grant program that provides students with funding and support to help transform their project into a social enterprise or nonprofit that will address a specific social issue. It is a part of Microsoft’s YouthSpark initiative that aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth over the next 3 years.

The grand prize grant of $100,000 was awarded to Team Graphmasters from Germany for their solution called nunav that reduces vehicle carbon emissions through an innovative navigation system. The second place grant of $75,000 went to Team StethoCloud from Australia who developed a solution to diagnose childhood pneumonia. There were also grants of $50,000 each to Team Vivid from Egyp & Team Cipher256 from Uganda for their mobile app and listening device to analyze fetal heart rates; and Team QuadSquad from Ukraine who created a solution that transforms sign language into verbal communication.

The teams used technologies that include Windows 8, Windows Azure, Windows Phone, Bing Maps and more.