Microsoft announces Imagine Cup 2009 Jordan finals

The winning team from Jordan will represent the Kingdom at the Imagine Cup 2009 worldwide finals in Cairo in July.

Imagine Cup 2009, the world's premiere student technology competition, will be held under the theme 'Solve the world's toughest problems.' The Imagine Cup Jordan Award was launched by Microsoft in November 2008 challenging all Jordanian students to use their technology skills and imagination to address the world's toughest problems.

Mr. Zeid Shubailat, Country Manager of Microsoft Jordan said: "Microsoft strongly believes in the power of innovation of students and therefore we strive to continuously support and foster their creations and innovations. Initiatives such as the Imagine Cup competition provide us with the opportunity to highlight young and talented Jordanians especially in the field of IT and provide them with the recognition they deserve across the region."

He added: "Imagine Cup is a very serious and intense challenge that brings students together, and motivates the competitors to give it their all. We look forward to witnessing some of the greatest innovations that are being created by Jordanian students, and we also encourage other students to follow in their footsteps by participating in future competitions."

All Imagine Cup competitors receive access to free software programs from an extended list of 83 Microsoft software titles, software design technologies to use while creating a solution to solve some of the world's toughest problems, and exclusive learning resources through the Microsoft IT Academy Program.

Iman Naimi, Microsoft Innovation Center (MIC) Lead said:

"The MIC played an important role in the Imagine Cup competition by providing the participating teams with training and all the necessary tools they needed to successfully complete their projects."

MIC is a facility that creates an environment for innovation and provides a comprehensive set of programs and services for collaboration on innovative research, technology or software solutions.

The Imagine Cup Jordan 2009 judging committee is made up of a number of officials and Microsoft Partners who will evaluate the participating projects, and they include Mohammad Khawaja from QRCE, Dr. Qasem Radaideh from Yarmouk University, Dr. Ezz Hattab from ZeeDimension, Sameer Al-Mohtasb from Applied Science Private University, and Samer Chidiac, Developer Evangelist and Ihsan Anabtawi, Marketing Lead from Microsoft.