Bing at Imagine Cup

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The Russian white nights burned off our threatened rain, and now I sit in an ever-filling hotel near the heart of St. Petersburg, Russia, getting ready for the Imagine Cup to begin. Thank goodness for the universality of coffee addiction around the world; we are all going to need it!

Here at the marble-floored Park Inn Pribaltiyskaya, 305 students representing 87 technical projects from 70 countries around the world are gathering to strut their stuff and compete for $1 million in prizes. Oh yes, and the amazing array of judgesof which yours truly is one are present. I have the privilege of judging the World Citizenship and Innovation categories.

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More than 1.6 million students heralding from almost 200 countries have competed in the Imagine Cup over the last decade. All of the student teams have already competed locally in order to be sent here to the Worldwide Finals. I was also excited to learn that roughly a quarter of the teamscompeting this week are using Bing APIs (search or maps) in some way. Since we wanted to give them a shout out (Bing is not a competition category) the list of those teams are broken out below.

For those of you watching in the U.S. there is no need to suffer jetlag; you can sip your own coffee while viewing the live stream July 8-11, with the awards finale emceed by Dr. Who’s Matt Smith at the Alexandrinsky Theater on July 11th.

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Teams using Bing technology

Australia World Citizenship Team Confufish Royale Foodbank Local connects donor agencies with food distribution centers and soup kitchens through a distribution and logistics system.
Bolivia World Citizenship Team Noodles Project Zebras is an app that reports traffic jams, parades, and other things that are blocking streets. It also helps the user find nearby places within his/her budget including restaurants, cafes, hotels, and book stores.
Bulgaria World Citizenship Team Vertigo Driving M8 is a Windows Phone app that connects with the car via Bluetooth and onboards data to analyze the users driving, while also giving advice on how to improve fuel efficiency and reduce a carbon footprint.
Cyprus World Citizenship Team Nudge From Cyprus NearFieldCare is a solution that stores medical on an individuals’ wristband, providing easy access to information about a patient’s medical care with a simple touch of the cell phone on the patient’s bracelet.
Ecuador World Citizenship Team AYNI AYNI (means “help”) is a social network based on map that is designed to revolutionize how volunteering works. It was created to address the lack of visibility of the organizations that offer social assistance.
Nigeria World Citizenship Team LifeSaver CardioLife is a solution designed to tackle heart health by monitoring heart rate via the Windows Phone. The solution also provides a rehabilitation program for stroke patients with Kinect.
Romania World Citizenship Team MedScientists HChecked is a platform for monitoring a patient’s health by distributing notifications when the data detects signals that fall outside of a physician’s recommended parameters.
Slovenia World Citizenship Team Beezinga Beezinga is an early warning analytical web and mobile based system to help industrial and large beekeepers optimize production and detect issues in beehives through automated data collection.
Tunisia World Citizenship WiseTeam DriveALive helps truck drivers avoid fatigue by aligning their sleep schedule to the rest areas along their route. If rest areas are not readily available in certain areas, the application will send a feedback to the organizations responsible for installing rest areas.
Uganda World Citizenship Team Code 8 By connecting a custom piece of hardware called a matiscope to a portable device, Matibabu can diagnose malaria without requiring a blood sample.
Venezuela World Citizenship Team Lazarillo NET Lazarillo is an integrated system that guides visually impaired people through voice messages in addition to advanced technology including GPS and geo location services through Bing maps and social networking.
China World Citizenship – Online Qualifier Team Combine Water Facts helps solve the leakage problem of water use by establishing the intelligent water meters and sensors network so water supply companies can detect water leaks quickly.

 

– Betsy Aoki, Senior Program Manager, Bing