We’re fans of stories where people are doing brilliant things, and the winners of this year’s Microsoft Imagine Cup certainly classify as that, and are even locals, too.
The news comes from America, where Microsoft has crowned some amazing ideas from students all around the world, with Australians taking out the gold and winning with one that has the potential to prevent anaemia.
This idea comes from an app made by two students which can take a selfie and use the information from your photo to work out if you have a risk for anaemia, analysing eye colour and working out if you’re at risk for the blood disorder.
Developed by two students from Monash University in Victoria, the Eyenaemia app pulled top marks at Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, netting the trophy, a $50,000 prize, and a private meeting with Bill Gates.
Eyenaemia isn’t the only Australian development we’ve seen pass through the Imagine Cup, though, with second place going to another team of Aussies a couple of years ago with a stethoscope that worked with a Windows Phone.
In that product, the StethoCloud made it possible to turn a Windows Phone into a stethoscope, with the phone’s software able to listen out for the right sounds and work out if someone was suffering from respiratory diseases.
Both ideas hail from Melbourne, and show how much young Australians have to offer, though it’s not the only place that has created solid ideas this year, with other prizes going to a Taiwanese team’s full-body motion detection stroke rehabilitation system “Usens,” and even a team across the puddle in New Zealand with “Estimeet,” an app that tracks the location of your friends and works out where they are before they arrive to meet you.
“Imagine Cup is about fostering new ideas and encouraging students to push the boundaries and imagine what’s possible now and in the future,” said Steve Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President and Chief Evangelist at Microsoft.
“Student developers play a huge role in helping to bring new technology innovations to life in ways that shape the way we work, live and play. Going forward, Microsoft’s Imagine Cup program aims to empower even more students, at younger ages, with the technologies, skills and resources to build a lifelong passion for technology, helping to grow the next generation of innovators.
“We’re very proud of the Imagine Cup program and even more proud of our student competitors from all around the globe.”
