PRESS RELEASES
Partnerships were forged, new software innovations were unraveled, and a talented group of IT students were crowned as winners during the recently concluded Innovation Universe 2012 conducted by Microsoft Philippines.
Microsoft brought together some of the country's top IT vendors, as well as established and up-and-coming innovators at the SM Megamall Megatrade Hall for three major IT events - Server Summit, Who Dunn IT and Imagine Cup. "In this three-day event, there was something for everybody - whether you're a vendor, a developer, a student, or an IT enthusiast. It was an experience like no other, and the participation of each one in turn collectively helped promote innovation in the country. We truly believe Filipinos have the potential to become world-class innovators," said John Bessey, Managing Director, Microsoft Philippines.
This year's Server Summit brought large and small enterprises beyond virtualization, showcasing Microsoft's System Center 2012 and the SQL Server 2012. Microsoft Philippines' executives, together with partners from Dell, Accenture, Fujitsu, PLDT and dB Wizards shared insights on the benefits of moving to the cloud. Keynote presentations focused on improving infrastructure through cost-effective measures. Further to that, the discussions focused on how new cloud innovations, particularly System Center 2012 and the SQL Server 2012, are redefining the management and delivery of service from the data center.
WHO DUNN I.T. sought to promote the talents and skills of Philippine-based developers by providing a platform for locally developed innovations from students and start-ups to share and exchange the best IT knowledge, practices and solutions using Microsoft technology. Tim Vergel de Dios, Audience Marketing Manager for Microsoft Philippines emphasized how the company values the growth of our local IT community. "Developers have always been vital in the IT community and through this event, we sought to empower more Filipinos to realize the values and endless opportunities technology can bring to the community," shared de Dios.
The three-day event ended with the local finals of Microsoft's Imagine Cup, the world's premiere student technology competition, where a team of three students from De La Salle - College of St. Benilde emerged as the local Imagine Cup 2012 heroes. Also known as "Divided By Zero," the team bested four other finalists from other schools in the Software Design Category. They will be bringing their project, KidCAMP, to Sydney, Australia this coming July to represent the Philippines and compete in the Imagine Cup 2012 World Finals.
The theme of this year's Imagine Cup competition, "Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems," is in line with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals covering health, environment, education and accessibility, and teams were challenged to center their projects on these key issues.
Divided by Zero's KidCAMP is a web and mobile application that enhances special education to improve autism communication tools, assist teachers to create various learning resources, monitor student performance and support global statistics of progress in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). "We are very happy and challenged to know that we will be representing the country in the Imagine Cup World Finals. Our project KidCAMP will truly help the families of Autism Spectrum Disorder children receive the same kind of learning experience as other kids do. Microsoft has helped us achieve and address this problem through this competition and we will do our best in July," said Jason Josol, one of the members of Divided By Zero.
Teams from around the world that will be chosen to join the Imagine Cup World Finals will compete in seven categories: Software Design, Game Design, IT Challenge, Kinect Fun Labs Challenge, Windows Metro Style App Challenge, Windows Azure Challenge, and Windows Phone Challenge.
"The Innovation Universe, in its totality, was a success in terms of achieving the objective of being ‘the' platform for the promotion and development of the Philippine IT industry. We want to foster the avenues where innovation starts and grows, and we recognize how essential our local IT community is in our own journey to bring excellent products and solutions. We are always committed to bring the best IT experience to the community we are part of," concluded Bessey.