Finals in Warsaw, Poland from July 4-8
The Microsoft Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals are taking place this week in Warsaw, Poland .  Over 400 finalists from high schools and universities in 70 countries are in Warsaw presenting their ideas about how to solve the world’s toughest problems using Microsoft technology.   The field of 400 student finalists came from an initial group of 325,000 applicants with a single team representing each of the 70 countries taking part in the competition, which is in its 8th year.    With opening ceremonies held July 4 at Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science and a final awards ceremony taking place on July 8 at the Warsaw Opera House, it’s an exciting week in Warsaw!

Green Entries in the Software Design Category
The Software Design category is one of the most competitive with 68 entries in the finals this year.  Looking at entries with a Green or Sustainable theme there are seven teams – Bahrain, Croatia, Italy, The Netherlands, Peru, Russia and Slovakia – whose project uses technology to solve an environmental problem.  While there’s great variety among the projects, it’s also great to see the threads between each team and know that students all over the world are thinking about the health of our planet.  The seven teams showed surprising unity in their concerns for clean water, the need to increase reuse and recycling, and the use of social networks and emerging technologies to share information.

Water, Water Everywhere but Especially in Russia and Peru
Clean water is basic when it comes to preserving our environment and saving the world.  Two teams – Team NLO from Russia and Team APWT Live from Peru – made clean water their focus.  Team NLO’s Polarvision project was featured by Microsoft prior to the finals. Team NLO is already using their system, which conducts remote sensing in real time to monitor water quality, to help Russia’s Syratkyl National Park understand why fish are dying in the park’s rivers and streams.   It’s an interesting – and early – test of their project’s success.  Team APWT Live’s project focuses on water treatment to ensure environmental sustainability and maintain a balance between the rhythm of technology and patterns of life.  Team APWT’s sensors are designed for use by water treatment plants to ensure water quality and access to clean water for all.

Ideas to Increase Recycling and Reuse from Bahrain and Slovakia
Recycling and reuse to relieve our global footprint is another basic for saving our planet.  Team Genius Touch of Bahrain and Team FuTuRe of Slovakia both addressed recycling and reuse for their projects.  Inspired by the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in 2009, Team Genius Touch designed the Cash Trash smart recycle bin.  Cash Trash allows people to dispose of a range of recyclable materials and also earn points to exchange for vouchers of value to the user.  This puts us in mind of the Pepsi Dream Machine and Groupon, take note – vouchers of value to the user are right up your alley.  Congratulations, Team Genius Touch.  Team FuTuRe uses map interface and social networks like Facebook, Windows Live and Twitter to encourage friends to post the location of items available for reuse – all around the globe.  While things that are just around the corner will make less of a footprint than things on the other side of the world, you never know.  The sky’s the limit with this approach, and encouraging all of us to reuse what’s available from friends and others helps us all. 

Building Information Exchange in Croatia, Italy and The Netherlands
Most solutions to the world’s environmental problems start with sharing information, either locally or globally – as we just saw with Team FuTuRe.  Three teams in the finals made sharing information central to solving an environmental problem – Think Green Team of Croatia (now in the semi-finals), Team Error 404 of Italy and Team wEarth-IT of The Netherlands.  Think Green Team focused on farmers around the world and the value of bringing technology and knowledge to farmers to increase food production and address the problem of hunger worldwide.  With their system, experts provide knowledge via a system that guides users to monitor and regulate growing conditions – and doesn’t require expertise on the part of the user.  We applaud this unique use of technology to aid farmers worldwide – tapping into a global resource of information for a group that’s usually focused on local knowledge and experience.  Team Error 404 developed software to encourage car pooling and finding the shortest routes for travel to reduce carbon emissions.  Their software searches data paths for ideal routes and uses posts on Facebook and EBay to provide information about rides and riders, making car pool matches easier, more visible and therefore safer for users – a current hurdle to greater use of carpools in Italy.  Knowing that it’s easy to make the wrong decision when it comes to making ‘green’ choices, Wearth-IT created a web site and scanning via mobile phones and webcams to help consumers understand the ‘green’ lifecycle of various products.  The team’s database of information and applications provide objective product information and are designed to help consumers make responsible choices between ‘green’ and ‘less green’ products as they strive to shop sustainably.

Enjoy the Finals and Enjoy Warsaw
Whatever the outcome for these teams on July 8, they’ve done great things already and we applaud them.  Our environment is important to each in our own backyard, but also in the backyard we share – our planet.   We all have a stake in the health of our planet and these finalist teams all show great insight and desire to help locally and on a global level.  We thank each team for your time, your talent and your creativity – and for reminding us that technology provides many answers to tackling the world’s toughest problems.   For all of you in Warsaw today, we say dzien kuje – thank you.