NCU takes top two spots at Microsoft’s Imagine Cup

Joseph McKinson (centre), country manager, Microsoft Jamaica Inc, receives a demonstration of the Electronic School Computer Aid for Primary Education (eSCAPE) from Northern Caribbean University’s (NCU’s) Team Educ.8 (from left) Trevor Williams, Trecia Thompson, Warren Robinson and Caray McKenzie.

Geared at improving literacy in primary schools, eSCAPE earned Team Educ.8 an unprecedented back-to-back victory at the Microsoft Imagine Cup, the world’s premier technology competition. Another NCU team, Xormis, placed second in the competition to give Jamaica the top two spots.

In congratulating the team, McKinson said: “NCU’s performance is nothing short of consistent, outstanding and exemplary. They could not have been so successful without a solid university administration, which obviously understands the importance and role of technology.”

Now in its eighth year, the Imagine Cup provides students with a platform to showcase their software development and technical skills to the world’s most challenging problems. It has grown into a truly global competition with more than 300,000 students from over 100 countries and regions vying for a chance to win cash, other prizes and gain real life professional experience that could help them turn ideas into real products and solutions.

The NCU team goes on to the worldwide finals, which will be held July 3-8 in Poland under the theme “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems”.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has said that he wished there had been an Imagine Cup when he was growing up as it gets people involved in changing the world.