More than 1,000 young innovators in Vietnam participated in the local segment of the Imagine Cup 2013 competition, with a team of four students from the VNU University of Engineering and Technology (VNU-UET) clinching the title of this year’s national champions.
One of only six project submissions that made it to the final round of the local competition, eventual winner, Team Bluetooth, developed a game app called ‘Green Haven Game’ that promotes environmental values and encourages different sustainable initiatives. The app was built on Microsoft’s XNA® platform.
Through its engaging play, the Green Haven Game takes the app user through several key stages of sustainability, such as waste sorting, waste reduction and material conservation, material reuse and recycling. To advance its commercial viability, the game app developed by Team Bluetooth runs on a variety of Windows® and Xbox® based operating systems.
Microsoft Vietnam presented Team Bluetooth with their championship title at an awards ceremony held in Hanoi on 18 April. By coming up tops in the local competition, the VNU-UET students will represent Vietnam in the upcoming Imagine Cup 2013 Worldwide Finals, which will take place in July in Russia.
Nguyen Francis Tuan Anh, Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) Lead at Microsoft Vietnam, said, “Since the first local competition was held in Vietnam in 2004, the Imagine Cup has seen increased participation from young innovators across the country. Imagine Cup is only the beginning of a long journey for these aspiring tech entrepreneurs, and we hope the competition has provided them with useful insights into how they can leverage the latest technology to create a positive impact on their local communities.”
For more information, please visit www.imaginecup.com
“We hope that the Imagine Cup competition has provided aspiring tech entrepreneurs with useful insights into how they can leverage the latest technology to create a positive impact on their local communities.”
- Nguyen Francis Tuan Anh, DPE Lead, Microsoft Vietnam
It was an honour for Microsoft to bear witness to Sri Lanka’s historic hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in the city of Hambantota, and participate alongside political leaders, civil society, youth, the business community and others in the summit’s vision of serving the world better.At the 10 November inauguration ceremony of the 9th Commonwealth Youth Forum, which was held in parallel with the CHOGM, Sri Lanka President Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa made a powerful statement that for a long time, Sri Lankan children and youth have been robbed of their childhood and opportunities. Their ability to now participate in a Forum dedicated to them, with youth delegates from across the world, is significant for the country. He emphasised the country’s need to close opportunity gaps and inequalities, a message also highlighted by the Youth Forum’s theme ‘Inclusive Development—Stronger Together’.The rich multi-stakeholder discussions that followed brought up the needs, aspirations and challenges that young people in Commonwealth countries face. Clair Deevy, Citizenship Lead of Microsoft Asia Pacific, spoke at a panel discussion, ‘Well-being and Economic Growth’, alongside other panellists, including Dr Palitha Kohana, the Sri Lankan Representative to the United Nations in New York.
Namal Rajapaksa (a Member of Parliament and founder of the youth organisation, Tharunayata Hetak) and Clair Deevy meeting at the 9th Commonwealth Youth Forum in Hambantota
During the forum, which saw a turnout of 500 locals and over 200 youth from 54 countries, Clair made an impactful presentation on the need for the private sector to be actively involved in youth empowerment to help future generations become more skilled and employable. She underscored this with the proven success of several Microsoft YouthSpark programmes that are already freely accessible to Sri Lankan youth. She also fielded questions on these programmes, such as the Digital Literacy Curriculum, which have provided essential computing skills.Clair pointed out, “Today’s youth face an opportunity gap; some have access to the necessary skills and training needed to succeed today, but some do not. With more than 75 million unemployed young people around the world, we aim to work with youth organisations and local governments to close this gap, so that the future of our youth—and our global economy—can be secured.”In addition to the panel discussion, Microsoft Sri Lanka also hosted a YouthSpark booth and two side-events—‘Speedgeek’ and ‘Ask Me Anything’—run by student ambassadors from around the country. These events were very well received by the attendees, who asked many questions on technology and how it has addressed the challenges faced by today’s youth.After the event, Imran Vilcassim, Country Manager of Microsoft Sri Lanka and the Maldives, enthused, “The summit is a landmark event for Sri Lanka, and the Youth Forum has shown that our country wants to place young people at the centre of its development strategy. Microsoft YouthSpark has many opportunities to engender and facilitate youth empowerment in the move towards Sri Lanka’s vision, and we are excited about the prospects.”
This article was written by Waldo Kuipers, Corporate Affairs Manager, Microsoft New Zealand Limited, and was originally published on the New Zealand Microsoft GovTech blog.
The Māori Language Awards 2012 were held on Friday last week in Tauranga, an inspiring event that celebrated the contributions of 30 individuals and organisations who have contributed to te reo Māori through their work. I attended the event with my colleague, Anne Taylor, who has supported Microsoft's investment in te reo Māori since 2004.
Microsoft has collaborated with language experts to bring te reo Māori to Windows, Office and Internet Explorer. All it takes to add a te reo Māori user interface to these products is installing the free downloads for each product. We encourage everyone to try it.
We are honoured to be recognised for this investment through the awards. We would like to take a moment to acknowledge all those who have been involved with this work, and thank them for it. This work has only been possible because of your passion and dedication:
The work that these people have made possible for three generations of products (from Windows XP onwards) includes:
The award therefore represents the dedicated hard work of many people working together to a common objective.
Although I am not fluent, I was determined to do my best to deliver my speech in te reo. I know that my pronunciation was far from perfect, so just in case I was not easy to understand I have attached my full speech notes below.
I would also like to acknowledge the work by the other finalists in the ICT category: Vodafone NZ and Hika Group were finalists for the work they did to launch the Hika smartphone app that translates common phrases between English and te reo, and Dennis J Gray was a finalist for the Māori language keyboard he has developed, which includes dedicated keys for the macrons that are used to write in te reo.
Thank you to Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori and all of the other supporters and sponsors for making this fantastic event possible.
Māori Language Awards 2012 event photo by Alick Saunders. With thanks to Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori.