Skolkovo Foundation and RSU Higher School of Economics were partners of the event; the competition was also supported by other organizations including UNESCO IITE, Russian Venture Company, the companies Acer, Quarta Technologies and Intel. Director of International Development Department of Skolkovo Foundation, Alexey Sitnikov, welcomed the participants of the Cup and wished them success.
Imagine Cup is becoming increasingly popular among Russian students; this year more than 8,000 people registered to participate in various competition categories.
Overall, 12 teams participated in the Russian final. The jury awarded the first place in the "Software Projects" category to the OriTeam from the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI). The gold medalist in the "Embedded Systems" category was team Calvus from Saratov State Technical University (SSTU). More than 300 students and teachers gathered to support the participants, and during the competition, each of them could ask questions and comment on the speeches of the teams from the floor, using the Twitter micro blogging system.
"This year we have witnessed a new level of projects submitted by Russian students. It was difficult to evaluate and choose the best one, and we are grateful for the work of our extraordinary jury, staffed by members of respected organizations and partner companies. We will continue to work with the winners, supporting them in developing their projects," said Ekaterina Lazhintseva, head of department on work with the Microsoft IT education in Russia.
Skolkovo Foundation was a partner in the All-Russia Imagine Cup 2011 finals for the first time. Albert Efimov, project director of the IT Cluster of the Skolkovo Foundation, who was also a member of the jury, said, "I was surprised by all the participants; they all come with different original ideas. Of course, the degree of maturity of projects varies, some are at the initial stage and others have almost ready business solutions. We will try to support and encourage all, and above all, complete the ready business solutions. This is the first time that I am taking part in the Imagine Cup, and I can say that was wonderful to see the whole drama of the battle, the teams were very close. In my opinion, this competition is a very good initiative. We have to hold similar events 10 times more often in Russia, and then the activities of innovative young companies will grow very fast indeed."
OriCrafter, the project of students of MAI, who won in the "Software Projects" category, is an intelligent system that helps fold origami. It can be applied both to children's education, motor activities, attentiveness development and other essential skills, as well as for professional users - fans of the ancient Japanese art of paper folding. The system is also available as a mobile application and supports augmented reality.
"The Imagine Cup competition is a wonderful opportunity for all students to prove themselves. In preparing the bid, the project teamwork and personal skills of each participant are very well manifested," Alexey Markin, a representative of OriTeam, shared his impressions. "For many teams this is a real chance to enter the market and to commercialize their ideas."
The second place in the "Software Projects" category went to the Tactile Viewers team of the Moscow Physical-Technical Institute (MPTI). Kinect for the Blind is a system based on the Kinect controller and homemade tactile matrix, allowing the blind and visually impaired people to orientate themselves in their surroundings. The third place was shared by two teams - "Progress" from the Saratov State Technical University and the students of Nizhniy Novgorod State University's "Magic Team". "Progress" demonstrated a model of the Clean City project, aimed at optimizing garbage collection in the city, Clean City is based on a network of special sensors that fill the tanks, and the construction of efficient detour routes. Nizhniy Novgorod students presented Crystal Ball system for analyzing the political situation and the prediction of instability in various countries on the basis of information processing of news sources.
In the "Embedded Systems" category, the winner was team Calvus (SSTU). Saratov innovators gathered, set up and demonstrated in action the system that creates an optimal environment for the maintenance of larval axolotls. This is an important social project, which allows industrial-scale cultivation of the larvae that are actively used in medical research of stem cells and regeneration of humans.
"Microsoft Imagine Cup is an excellent opportunity to develop one's own innovative projects. Not so long ago, in Saratov, we started to build our system, and now we are going to New York, where we will be able to demonstrate it to our colleagues from around the world," said Fyodor Sergeyev, captain of Calvus team (SSTU). "I think we should organize as many competitions like the Imagine Cup as possible, they provide an opportunity to develop the potential of today's youth. Yet it is very important that the project involves experts from different fields, not just programmers, but also technologists, biologists, electrical engineers, and then we can create something really worthwhile. We will certainly develop and refine our system; we want to launch a real production line soon."
The team SunFlowers from Volgograd State Technical University was just a few points behind and ranked second in the "Embedded systems" category. They presented the system of redistribution and trade of solar energy. Third place went to another SSTU team, with the project on the rapid analysis of disease by smell, which allows fast analysis of the contents of a particular class of compounds in the exhaled air to detect certain diseases.