Students use imagination for better world

Twenty teams of enthusiastic students vied in Auckland on Tuesday to win the Microsoft Imagine Cup by using technology to solve some of the world's toughest problems. Business editor Dene Mackenzie was among the action.

My role was to challenge their ideas, push back to help validate the process Nick MacKechnieTop fourWinner: Team OneBuzz, University of Auckland, for using technology to inhibit the spread of malaria and ultimately eliminate the disease.

Second: Team MCG, University of Auckland, with the Sentinel project, a laser beam system for killing mosquitoes.

Third: Team SkyEye, University of Auckland, with a software solution designed to prevent car accidents and improve road safety globally.

Fourth: Team Food, Lincoln University, with Where is My Food, a database of food expiry dates for publishing to websites and local notice boards to inform people in need where to go for free food.

The winner ... Team OneBuzz.

THE buzz of activity and noise around the 20 technology stands manned by tertiary students gave the impression of sideshow alley at a major fair.

The students were trying to attract the attention of anyone who would listen to their pitch of how they had used technology to solve a major global problem.

Nearly 300 teams originally applied to compete in the Microsoft Imagine Cup, the fifth time it had been held in New Zealand. Interest was high, because last year's winner had come third at the Worldwide Imagine Cup, in Poland.

The concepts had been whittled down to 20 and the teams were chosen.

Hundreds of cans of energy drinks were consumed during the planning phase by the teams.

Thousands of hours were put into each project by the teams, as there was real potential to solve the problems and have the idea become commercial.

The 20 teams presented in less than six hours throughout the Festival Day held at the University of Auckland Business School.

Following the morning presentation, the teams set up their stalls and competed again to get attention from the business leaders attending.

Team Unique, from the University of Canterbury, lived up to its name in more ways than one.

The team which had a "Free Education" project found their meeting place destroyed in the February earthquake. They were meeting in the office of their Microsoft mentor Nick MacKechnie but had to look elsewhere after the quake.

Team member Johansen Sidabutar told the Otago Daily Times university lectures were being held in tents after the quake and the team sometimes met in the university car park to talk about the ideas.

One team member, Jerry Lai, went to Sydney, so his contribution was confined to chats on Skype. Mr Lai flew back two days before the competition to help with the final presentation of the project. He was returning to Sydney yesterday.

The team had come up with an education solution it believed was open to commercialisation to help reduce the costs of getting educational material into some of the world's poorest areas.

Edushare was a universal education platform that aimed to standardise and distribute educational material to different parts of the world. It was a web- and mobile-based software that helped provide children and teachers access to standard and authenticated educational materials.

Mr MacKechnie, who is originally from Dunedin, said each team had three mentors - one from Microsoft, one from the industry and one from academia.

He had provided office space until the earthquake and continued to provide mentoring support until the competition.

"My role was to challenge their ideas, push back to help validate the process.

"The team comes up with the idea. My role is to ask is it new and has someone else already solved this problem?"

There were lots of smart people in the world and it took a lot of research and checking to ensure the idea each team had was original, he said.

"In the end, it is their project and they choose whether to listen to advice or not."

Mr MacKechnie said the mentoring process lasted about four months. It was important the team had a room to use to bounce ideas off each other. The quake did complicate the process for Team Unique but he believed team members still worked as hard as any of the others in finalising their presentation.

They had worked through their holidays and were missing lectures to attend the Imagine Cup, in Auckland.

"The exciting thing is seeing all the passion and enthusiasm. They can identify a problem and work out how to address it."