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Microsoft Innovation Center Report 2010-2011 vol.14

Two Japan National Teams Selected – Imagine Cup Japan 2011

Published: June 6, 2011

Two Winning Combinations: Regularly Participating Team and Mixed Team of Students Who Met at an Imagine Cup Meeting

Now in its ninth year, Imagine Cup is the largest global student IT technology contest held by Microsoft. The theme for Imagine Cup 2011 is “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.” The student leaders of the next generation IT industry present solutions they developed to solve one of eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“By the end of March, there were over roughly 340,000 students registered from over 100 countries and regions of the world registered, making this the largest-scale contest yet,” said Nobuhiro Ito (Senior Manager, Academic Evangelism Group, Microsoft Co. Ltd., Japan), “In a period of just six months, four times as many participants as last year registered for Imagine Cup Japan 2011. Selected from among a multitude of entries, each of the teams here today is exceptional. I have been a part of Imagine Cup since 2005, and the teams competing in Imagine Cup Japan 2011 have presented the highest quality solutions I have seen yet.”

Compared to last year, this year saw four times the number of participant registrations in Japan. The six teams that passed application material screenings wage a tough battle at Imagine Cup Japan. In the Software Design division, MI³ from regular participant Doshisha University achieved a goal it sought for over three years. On multi-school team SunDonation, two women design majors and two men in charge of development worked together to take first place in the Embedded Development division.

Software Design Division

Japan National Team

MI³ (Doshisha University)

[Members] Yusuke Imai, Motoki Tanaka, Yuki Ishikawa, Yasutomo Imairi

[Instructor] Takahiro Koita (Instructor, Information Systems Design, Science and Engineering Department, Doshisha University)

“We are thrilled to be finally be selected as a Japan National Team after competing for three years. Our success is the result of the cooperation we received from our mentor Instructor Koita and from all of our professors at Doshisha.”

Photo Image : MI3

2nd Place

KAISER (Kansai University)

[Members] Kousuke Izumi, Yurie Ueno, Yoshiya Adachi, Yuki Hiramatsu

[Mentor] Shigenori Tanaka (Instructor, Faculty of Informatics, Kansai University)

3rd Place

PIJIN (Kwansei Gakuin University)

[Members] Kenichi Maeda, Shiomi Koi, Majeed Muzammal

Embedded Development Division

Japan National Team

SunDonation

[Members] Haruna Nishiwaki (Kyoto Institute of Technology), Ten Tanaka (Osaka Municipal College of Design), Tetsuya Yamamoto (Waseda University Graduate School), Yoshiki Kanda (Waseda University Graduate School)、

Mentor: Masayuki Ota (Waseda University Graduate School)

“We are a team of people from different universities and with different specialties. Since some of our team members have graduated, our team will attend world finals with new members. We are going to brush up our solution even more and aim to rank highly at the Imagine Cup World Finals.”

Photo Image : SunDonation

2nd Place

SP2LC (Salesian Polytechnic)

[Members] Tatsuya Kawamura, Ryo Nogami, Yasuto Saito, Hiroshi Kono

[Mentor] Ken Uchida (Associate professor, Department of Computer Science and Technology, Salesian Polytechnic)

2nd Place

coccolo (Tokyo National College of Technology)

[Members] Mio Okawa, Megumi Tabata, Shunichi Akamatsu, Hiroyuki Takagi

[Mentor] Katsushi Matsubayashi (Professor, Department of Computer Science, Tokyo National College of Technology)

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Expectations Mount for Highest Quality Presentations to Date

	Microsoft Japan is building a framework to back up the Japan National Teams. We plan to offer foreign language and special presentation training, which we hope will help them advance even higher at world finals this year.
	Shunichi Kajisa (CTO, Microsoft Co., Ltd.)

Former Imagine Cup participant Kotaro Nakayama (Professor, Center for Knowledge Structuring, The University of Tokyo) summed up Image Cup 2011 on behalf of all the judges. Nakayama praised the highly polished presentations given by this year’s participants, and explained that to date, judges had the most difficulty ranking teams in this year’s contest.

“I was surprised and moved by highly polished presentations of the winning teams, and all of the teams. There was no comparing this year’s presentations to those of when I was a participant: the technical level and teamwork was outstanding,” added Nakayama, “PIJIN has a solution that they can develop into a business immediately. KAISER proposed a technologically advanced solution that utilizes a patent. Even so, every student who competes at world finals is always shocked, and thinks, ‘Is the level of competition this high?’ I hope that will take a minute to regroup, be proud to be a Japan National Team, and work hard at the world finals.”

Three teams were locked in close battle during the Software Design division judging. Judges were pleased that every team proposed solutions that were equally qualified to win. The high level of quality seen at Imagine Cup Japan 2011 raised everyone’s expectations for the world finals. Aiming together with the Japan National Teams to advance to top places at world finals, Microsoft Co. Ltd., Japan is helping the teams improve their skills this year.

“The level of the Japan National Teams goes up every year. We believe that this will be the year we rank highly at the world finals. But since the rest of the world is also raising the bar, we know that we still need to work very hard,” said Shunichi Kajisa (CTO, Microsoft Co., Ltd.), “Microsoft Japan is also building a framework to back up the Japan National Teams. We plan to offer foreign language and special presentation training, which we hope will help them advance even higher at world finals this year.”

Photo Image : Kotaro Nakayama Photo Image : Shunichi Kajisa

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Next Generation Student Solutions Change Japan’s Tough Situation

	We at Microsoft Japan are focused now on thinking about what we can do for Japan, and pouring all our energies into support activities to rebuild the areas destroyed in the disaster. We believe that making Imagine Cup Japan 2011 a success and introducing the talents of Japanese students to the world will benefit the Japan of the future.
	Nobuhiro Ito (Senior Manager, Academic Evangelism Group, Microsoft Co. Ltd., Japan)

Points were so evenly divided in the Embedded Development division that two teams were selected to share 2nd place. The deciding factor was that both teams’ proposed a solution that takes Japan’s current situation into account.

“The extremely close match played out in Embedded Development, a division with high expertise, indicates the high technical level of these students,” noted Nakaya, “All of the teams proposed solutions that were easy for anyone to understand, but this year a solution was selected for its aptness to Japan’s current situation, and to people in similar tough situations around the world. I look forward to SunDonation growing their solution into one that not only changes the style of fundraising, but can change lifestyles.”

While originally scheduled to be held at the end of March, this contest was delayed one month due to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster. Microsoft is now pouring every energy into support activities to rebuild the areas destroyed in the disaster. Each of this year’s Japan National Teams also donated 100,000 yen of their award money to the Japan Red Cross Society.

“Imagine Cup Japan 2011 has great meaning this year,” reflected Nobuhiro Ito (Senior Manager, Academic Evangelism Group, Microsoft Co. Ltd., Japan), “When the earthquake disaster struck on March 11, the Tohoku Expressway was opened the following morning, after only one night of work, so that emergency vehicles could pass. Also, after only a week’s time, cargo could again be transported from the Japan Sea coast. Then, a new record was set when Sendai airport, expected to take half a year to restore, was reopened operating flights in just 35 days,” Ito noted. “The world’s eye is focused on the strength of Japanese technology right now. We at Microsoft Japan are also focused right now on what we can do for Japan, and pouring all our energies into support activities to rebuild the areas destroyed in the disaster. We truly believe that making Imagine Cup Japan 2011 a success and introducing the talents of Japanese students to the world will benefit the Japan of the future.”

As Japanese trends are followed by countries worldwide, two Japan National Teams from next generation’s IT industry leaders will step onto the world finals stage in New York this summer.

Photo Image : Hide Nakaya Photo Image : Nobuhiro Ito