IIT runners up for two consecutive years at Microsoft Imagine Cup

Today’s 21st century world is a competitive one where discoveries and technologies are made obsolete almost immediately. In this environment, the younger generation has a greater sense of urgency to establish and prove themselves.

The Microsoft Imagine Cup is an International Competition that paves the way for such ambitious and keen minded young students to establish themselves.

In operation for the past 10 years, the Imagine Cup is a global premier student technology competition that encourages and motivates students to ‘imagine’. Students must use their creative genius to come up with a technological solution for problems prevalent in society. This is in keeping with the Competitions’ basic theme of ‘Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems’.

In its 10 year existence the Imagine Cup has seen over 1.4 million students compete from across the globe. Each of these students has contributed imaginative ideas that have gone on to revolutionise certain approaches and technological reforms.

In 2012 alone, the competition saw 358’000 students from 183 countries participate.

The Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) produced three teams for the final round out of which the team CR-Coderz emerged first runner up at the competition in 2012 competing with the state universities and other private institutes in Sri Lanka for the second consecutive year.

In 2011, team CR-Coderz developed an interactive scientific learning software for primary school students, titled V-Lab (Virtual Lab) which made use of a host of cutting edge technologies including Augmented Reality with Fiducial Markers.

In 2012, the team developed Value Life, an interactive first aid teacher which teaches individuals the basics of administering first aid and also provides them with a virtual environment where the user would be able to test what he or she has learned, Value Life was build using the latest technologies made available by Microsoft like Silverlight 5 and Windows Phone 7.  

The masterminds behind CR-Coderz are Thirueswaren Rajagopalan, Raathigeshan Kugarajan, Sabry Moulana, and Renien Joseph.

All participants of the Imagine Cup from IIT have endorsed the very essence of the competition which is that it gives eager young minds the opportunity to try their hand at solving problems and through this possibly have an opportunity to develop a business, learn new and varied technological skills in the process, pitch themselves against similar thinking students across the world, make new friends, and of course win the prestigious prizes.

The curriculum structure of the BEng (Hons) Software Engineering program at IIT incorporates assignments that involve team building, presentations and communication activities.

 This degree offered by the University of Westminster (UOW) is not just taught but students are fully immersed in the practical aspects of the subjects. The placement year in the third year of study really puts the knowledge they gained into perspective when working in a real business environment. Students are able to execute what they learnt in their first and second year of study during their placement and thereby gain insight into the real business world