DEFENDING CHAMPIONS FROM UCTI WIN MICROSOFT MALAYSIA’S IMAGINE CUP 2012

Team Rhapsody develops an application that targets to solve teacher attrition in a tough competition that inspires students to realize their potential through the wonders of technology

Kota Kinabalu, 17 May 2011 – Last night, team Rhapsody from the Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation (UCTI) emerged as the winners of the Imagine Cup 2012 Malaysia Finals for the second consecutive year. They built a solution known as “WizBoard”, and will represent the nation in the Worldwide Finals of the premiere global student technology competition in Sydney, Australia in July.

This time, the students from UCTI had developed an application will solve teacher attrition faced by the world. With the aim of closing the education gaps between rural, urban and harsh condition areas, this application needs just one teacher to teach in the class and the particular lesson is saved and accessible for people from all walks of life including those who are from different language background, location. the solution can also be used by the visually impaired.Team Rhapsody, winners of Imagine Cup Malaysia 2012

The “WizBoard” application was very much in keeping with the theme of this year’s competition, “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problem”, in which participants were required to use technology to help solve real world problems as defined by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The team was announced the overall winners during the prize presentation dinner hosted at the Sutera Harbour Hotel in Kota Kinabalu on Thursday night. Upholding their title from last year, team Rhapsody also won the supplementary Innovation Award, presented by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) for the solution with the most business viability.
Team Rhapsody, Imagine Cup Malaysia 2012 winners, with YBhg Prof Datuk Dr. Ahmad Yusoff, Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Teknikal Melaka (UTeM) and Chairman of the Imagine Cup 2011 Organizing Committee; Ananth Lazarus, Managing Director, Microsoft Malaysia and Moorthy Uppaluri, General Manager, Global Academic Programs, Microsoft Corporation.

Team Rhapsody was among 30 teams that took part in the national finals in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The annual event, conceptualised and organised by Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) and Microsoft with the strong backing and support of the Ministry of Higher Education, has become known as the Olympics of student technology competitions.

“The second phase of the National Higher Education Strategic Plan(2011-2015) not only emphasizes on producing human capital but we also need to intensify our efforts in developing intellectual human capital as we work towards becoming an high income nation by 2020.

I’m happy to note that Imagine Cup has clearly depicted the Ministry’s efforts to further enhance and nurture technical literacy through ICT among students. We hope that through such rigorous endeavours, the nation’s vision of capitalizing on a digital economy will be a reality,” said of Y.B. Dato’ Seri Mohamed Khaled bin Nordin, Minister of Higher Education.

“Knowledge and wealth creation has become one of the major factors in the nation’s economic development, and this is determined by the ability to innovate in a continuous manner. The Imagine Cup is thus a platform for students to hone their potential in technology innovation to code their ideas and imagination on real world issues. This is also a sound platform for students to experiment and explore in real projects, then pitch it to the investors which in turn will develop these innovations into solutions to real world problems. ,” he said in a speech read by his Secretary-General, Datuk Ab Rahim Md Noor.

“Since its debut in 2003, the Imagine Cup Malaysia has grown by leaps and bounds. In the first year only 90 students participated in this competition and now, ten year later, we have received more than 1800 registrations for this competition. As for the finals this year, we had 30 teams consisting of 20 teams from public universities and 10 teams from private universities,” said YBhg Prof Datuk Dr. Ahmad Yusoff, Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Teknikal Melaka (UTeM) and Chairman of the Imagine Cup 2011 Organizing Committee.

“This encouraging response is a testament of the success of the Imagine Cup or popularly dubbed at the “Olympics of Technology” in reaching out to the hearts of the students who are eager to make a difference and tackle global economic, environmental, healthcare issues. I believe the power of technology harnessed creatively by minds of our young ones will be instrumental in overcoming those challenges” he added.

The Imagine Cup provides an opportunity for young people to use their creativity, passion and knowledge of technology to help solve global challenges and make a difference in the world.

“Students have a significant responsibility to ensure the continual progress and success of this great country and contribute towards becoming a high-income, developed nation by 2020. Achieving these targets are about investing in human capital by providing cutting edge technology that will nurture an innovative, knowledgeable and well-prepared generation.” Said Ananth Lazarus, Managing Director, Microsoft Malaysia.

“This is where Microsoft strongly believes we have a critical role to play. Having been in Malaysia for almost 20 years now, this is a commitment that we remain very passionate about. We have developed what we call our National Plan – a long-standing commitment to help accelerate Malaysia’s transformation into a technologically advanced, high-income country, based on three strategic commitments – namely to transform education, businesses and Malaysian lives through the power of technology. As part of our commitment to help Malaysia transform education, some of the most important things we can do for you are to provide the opportunity as well as the tools to unleash your creative and innovative potential, to imagine a better world. This is exactly where the Imagine Cup comes in: it is an investment into the future game-changers of the country, as we transform Malaysia together.

I saw a bit of that future at the Imagine Cup Malaysia Finals, which was a microcosm of what Malaysia aspires to be. The students here can act as catalysts to bring forth that transformation. They can catapult this country to greater heights,” Ananth added

Since the introduction of the Imagine Cup in 2003, the number of participants worldwide has been growing steadily. This year, more than 350,000 students are expected to compete in the worldwide finals in Sydney, Australia in July. The global success of the Imagine Cup is reflected in Malaysia. In 2011, about 1, 671 students registered for the competition locally, and this increased to 1,800 participants this year.

A notable second in this year’s national finals was the 4GM team, from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), which had developed “Recycle Bingo” a system on Windows Phone platform that tackles environmental sustainability and energy wastage. Sirius– yet another UPM team, came in third with their invention called “Hooray Hubby”, a pregnancy information game that targets husbands who want to better understand pregnancy in an informative and fun way. The team also took home the supplementary Presentation Superstars Award for their outstanding teamwork and presentation.

Other winners of the competition include:

- Teams SLIM from Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC) won the Windows Phone 7 Mobile Development Award for its project called “Gavida”, a solution that helps reduce the maternity mortality rate and improve the healthcare of conceiving mothers by providing them with different ways to ensure that the mother is prepared during childbirth.
- Team KIHECT from Universiti Teknology Malaysia (UKM) won the Kinect Fun Life Award for its “Kinect Hand-Eye Coordination trainer”, to enhance human potential and ability of coordination, a skill related to physical fitness.
- Team Beyond Imagination took home the Social Cause Award for its “1 Bid, One Hope” solution that works as a donation point and a bidding hub, similar to e-Bay or lelong.com

Malaysia’s participation in the Worldwide Finals
- In 2009, Team Cosmic and Team Capricorn, both from University Science Malaysia, took home the 1st and 3rd prize in the Unlimited Potential Design for Development Award.
- In 2010, Team HDC from APIIT-UCTI became the first Malaysian team to ever become one of the Top 6 finalists in the Software Design Category.
- In 2011, Team Cyber Knightz, from APIIT-UCTI were part of the Top 16 in the Software Design Category