Microsoft Announces U.S. Imagine Cup Finals Demo Day Winners

Today, Microsoft hosted the 2013 U.S. Imagine Cup Finals Demo Day in Silicon Valley. The top 10 U.S. teams pitched their ideas and solutions to investors, entrepreneurs, and technology professionals for a chance to win cash prizes and support for their businesses.

COMPETITIONS

WORLD CITIZENSHIP: Students had the opportunity to create an app that will help solve global challenges, such as reducing world hunger, providing better treatment for disease, raising awareness around environmental issues or providing better access to education. The top team in this category wins $5000.

The winner of the World Citizenship Competition is: Project SAM from the University of Chicago

INNOVATION: Reinvent social networks, transform online shopping, experience music in a new way or do something amazing with GPS. The top team in this category wins $5000.

The winner of the Innovation Competition is Kinect PT from the University of Virginia

GAMES: Using Microsoft gaming platforms such as Windows PC, Windows Phone, Xbox or Kinect students are tasked with creating a new game, changing a current genre or developing a new visual style of game. The top team in this category wins $5000.

The winner of the Games Competition is Gigaloth from the University of Colorado.

SKYDRIVE BOOST AWARD WINNER:

The following teams have won the SkyDrive Boost award for building SkyDrive support, in a meaningful way, into their projects. Each of the following teams will receive $1,000 to be divided equally among teammates and each team member will receive an additional 30 GB SkyDrive card. The winning teams are:

  • Team Pitch, from Boston University
  • Team SwagFace, from Rice University
  • The Miracle Workers, from Harvard University and Winona State University

ACCELERATOR AWARD WINNERS:

These teams win $2,000 each as the top three online accelerator teams, for the quality of their projects and the improvements they made during the online accelerator program.

  • Verbatim Signers, from the University of Arkansas
  • Defenestrate, from California State University, Los Angeles
  • The Mobile Lab, from Florida State University

DEMO OF THE DAY AWARD WINNER:

This team wins an additional $5000 for the top performance of the day.

The Demo of the Day winner is: Gigaloth, from the University of Colorado

NATIONAL TEAM AWARD:

We are proud to unveil the team that will represent the U.S. at the Worldwide Finals in St. Petersburg, Russia: 

The 2013 National Team is Team P’oli Ahu of the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

In the United States this year, Microsoft hosted a set of programs to help student teams create successful businesses, including a virtual accelerator, a Startup Boot Camp in Silicon Valley, and today’s U.S. Imagine Cup Finals Demo Day.

Microsoft would like to thank all the teams for participating in the competition and making the event a huge success. Continue to stay up-to-date on all Imagine Cup news and announcements via the Imagine Cup website.