Home

image cup

Microsoft Challenges Students to Help Millennium Goals

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Tripp Ritter
Topics: Technology and the Internet
Countries: India, Romania, South Korea
Palestinian students building technology skills. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps
Palestinian students building technology skills. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

Eight years ago Microsoft hosted the first Imagine Cup, a year long contest that challenges students to use technology to come up with solutions to the world's toughest problems. This year's Imagine Cup challenged teams to come up with ways to help developing countries achieve the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs consist of eight goals aimed at reducing global poverty by 2015. Teams from over 100 countries submitted their concepts and the finalists earned a trip to Cairo for a shot at one of the $25,000 prizes.

The winner for software category was a Romanian team that designed a program to help people connect with government agencies that the team hope to implement back in their hometown. An Indian team won a special award for developing a computer game that educates children about malaria. One of the more imaginative offerings came from a South Korean team that developed a means to help farmers more successfully breed insects for food.

Bookmark/Search this post with
Keywords: image cup, Microsoft, millenium development goals, youth

Stories We're Watching
Subscribe

As Growth Slows, India Awakens to Need for Foreign Investment

International Herald Tribune - Wed, 02/08/2012 - 08:26
India’s central bank and economic analysts predict that growth will fall sharply to 7 percent this fiscal year and remain sluggish.

Social responsibility and a new world order

Washington Post - Innovations - Tue, 02/07/2012 - 07:56
Just before the New Year, the London-based Center for Economics and Business Research announced that Brazil had overtaken the United Kingdom as the world’s sixth largest economy. Furthermore, it predicted that by 2020, India and Russia will also have overtaken all the European economic powers.

Aid for trade policy rears its ugly head

The Guardian's Poverty Matters - Mon, 02/06/2012 - 01:41
The UK government's dismay at not being granted the contract for Typhoon fighter jets in India is an indication that its controversial aid for trade policy is still very much alive.

Liberia's battle to put the lights back on

The Guardian's Poverty Matters - Sun, 02/05/2012 - 23:00
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has set ambitious targets to restore the country's electricity supply. But will it meet them by 2015?

As Africa's consumers rise, so does inequality

Yale Global Online - Fri, 02/03/2012 - 10:17
Kenya struggles to spread the wealth from rapid growth.
See all Breaking News >

Recent comments

Countries

An initiative of Mercy Corps
“You must be the change
you wish to see in the world”
— Mahatma Gandhi
Learn more about Mercy Corps >

Efficiency

Over the last five years, more than 89% of Mercy Corps' resources have been allocated directly to programs

Excellence

America's premier charity evaluator gives Mercy Corps four stars in organizational efficiency. Click here to learn more.

High Value

Every dollar you donate to Mercy Corps helps us secure $11.16 in donated food and other critical supplies.

Mercy Corps — Dept. W — 45 SW Ankeny — Portland, OR 97204
 All original content Copyright © 2009 Mercy Corps. Quoted and linked content is property of the creator(s). Mercy Corps will not sell, rent or trade your personal information.