Microsoft and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) jointly organized the closing ceremony of the Virtual Imagine Cup 2022 in Islamabad on Tuesday, in which the winners and runners-up from Pakistan were announced.
The national winners were the Omega GIKI teamĀ from the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology (GIKI), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) for its project ‘Mind Braille’,Ā and the Reliance Team from the University of Peshawar (UET), KP for its project ‘Health Care 360. Each team received prize money of Rs. 150,000.
Team Roz from Forman Christian College was declared ‘EPIC Challenge Winners’ and scored the unique opportunity to qualify directly for the world finals, besides winning prize money of $1,000.
These teams will represent Pakistan at the international level by competing with the world’s top 48 finalist teams.
Fourteen other university teams from the South, Center, Balochistan, and Sindh regions were the Imagine Cup regional winners and runners-up and also won cash prizes.
The event was attended virtually by the Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs, Usman Dar, who commended and congratulated the top 17 teams who were the Imagine Cup regional and national winners. He also praised Microsoft and the HEC for their successful execution of the event and discussed the possibilities of integrating the Microsoft Imagine Cup with the Kamyab Jawan program to empower students across Pakistan.
Country Education Lead Microsoft Pakistan, Jibran Jamshed, attended the event virtually and remarked that the Imagine Cup 2022 continues to be Microsoft’s most popular initiative as it enables tech students, software developers, and entrepreneurs to develop applications and technology-based solutions that are worth launching in the market.
Microsoft strives to promote a culture of technological innovation and entrepreneurship across the globe and believes that it is even more important for developing nations like Pakistan. It has seen some excellent projects being selected and recognized locally, and now the best team from Pakistan will compete in the world championship for a chance to win $100,000, an Azure grant, and a mentoring session with Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella.
The vice-chancellors and representatives of the winning institutions and other universities also spoke of their participation in the competition and concurred that such events promote hard work among students. The Imagine Cup provides students with the opportunity to bring innovative ideas to life, gain new skills, avail of exclusive training and mentoring opportunities, and win great prizes.
In her closing remarks on the occasion, the HEC’s Executive Director, Dr. Shaista Sohail, added that the HEC and Microsoft are constantly endeavoring to introduce technological advances in the education sector and Imagine Cup is one of the key projects that they have collaborated on successfully. She also commended all the participants and the winners for their innovative contributions.
The HEC believes that these activities encourage students to think innovatively, cooperate, stay motivated, and contribute to the greater good of their countries.
Microsoft has already entered into an education transformation agreement with the HEC, covering key higher educational institutions in Pakistan. It organizes several capacity-building programs and holds similar activities for education stakeholders throughout Pakistan under this agreement. The key objective remains to empower the education sector through technology and with the latest Microsoft products and services.
