SINGAPORE -- May. 24, 2005 -- Envisage, a four-member team from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU) beat 11 other teams to emerge victorious in the Singapore software invitational grand finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2005 today. Justin Koh and Vincent Ong from NTU, as well as Angela Tan and Dorothy Tan from SMU will represent Singapore in the world finals to be held in Yokohama, Japan, from 26 July to 1 August 2005.

In March 2005, 12 teams were selected from more than 800 entries to begin research and development on their project concepts. Under the mentorship of academics and professionals from the three local universities and Microsoft Singapore, the projects were fine-tuned and readied for the finals, which took place on 16 May 2005. The top three teams were then chosen for the grand finals on 24 May 2005, where they were judged by a panel of well-known academics and researchers from the local universities and polytechnics (please refer to the Imagine Cup 2005 Fact Sheet for the list of judges).

"The standard of this year's entries is exceptional and all deserve recognition. We had a hard time deciding on the winner," said Robert Gay - Professor, Nanyang Technological University, School of EEE/ICIS, and Director and CEO, MC3. "What made the Envisage project stand out is its unique and clever interpretation of the competition theme, and practical benefits that can be easily applied to real life."

The Envisage team, formed by students from NTU and SMU developed a unique way to shop called Kaimono - a hybrid system that combines online and conventional shopping. This method of hassle-free shopping is intended to significantly enhance the shopping experience for consumers and increase revenue for retailers.

At the crux of the system are three simple steps: Shop, Scan, Send. When a shopper enters or passes a store and sees a product she likes, all she needs to do is to scan the product using her mobile device and send an order to the retailer. The sale will automatically be charged to her and the product delivered to her home.

In essence, Kaimono allows retailers to sell their products beyond a physical shop space and operating hours. Similarly, consumers are able to shop anywhere, anytime with total product knowledge.

"We were able to challenge ourselves to think outside the box, and relished the opportunity to tackle an issue that's close to any Singaporean's heart -shopping! More importantly, we had fun doing it!" said Justin Koh, team leader, Envisage.

The team is currently busy preparing for the world finals, which will take place at the end of July in Japan. Envisage hopes to do Singapore proud by finishing in the top 10.

The Imagine Cup, now in its third year, is aimed at helping students unlock their potential through various disciplines. This year's competition theme - "Dissolving the boundaries between us" - was chosen to enable Imagine Cup entrants to demonstrate how software innovation can solve real world problems. In fact, many of their competition projects will be turned into real world commercial applications after the competition has ended.

"Microsoft is committed to supporting IT education in Singapore and to expanding opportunities for students and educators, and innovation for the overall industry. This year's participants have demonstrated creativity, innovation and real world applicability with their designs. With Microsoft, student programmers are defining the future of software and computing." said Andy Zupsic, Managing Director, Microsoft Singapore.

Participation in Imagine Cup 2005 is setting new records with a 600% increase in the number of participants. Students from over 100 countries are competing in the nine Imagine Cup 2005 invitational, including software design, rendering, algorithm, gaming, short film, IT business plan and web development. Singapore set a new record with 821 students from all of the local universities, polytechnics and ITE, participating in the software design invitational.

In terms of the number of participants, Singapore ranks 2nd in Asia and 9th globally. In addition, Nanyang Polytechnic, Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore have been ranked 4th, 5th and 9th respectively among the top ten participating schools worldwide (please refer to the Imagine Cup 2005 Fact Sheet for key Singapore statistics).

Results
Imagine Cup 2005 winners
Envisage
Nanyang Technological University/Singapore Management University
Project: Kaimono

Runner-up
MediSign
Nanyang Technological University
Project: MediSign

MediSign implements a breakthrough authentication technology that makes Public Key Infrastructure on Low-cost Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags possible.

Second runner-up
Tinkerbox
Nanyang Polytechnic
Project: Synapse
Our philosophy with Synapse is to give control to users over their personal information and streamlining the process of sharing them with the public. Our objective is to make it easier to discover people and communities sharing similar interest. All in all, our project makes use of RFID, Bluetooth, GPRS, and many other exciting technologies to dissolve boundaries and improve the lives of people.
Third runner-up

Team: FreeStar
Project: eWorld
National University of Singapore
eWorld is designed for the deaf and mute with two key functions: sign language recognition and sign language synthesis. First, sign language gesture movements are captured by camera and translated to an intermediate language. Besides the sign languages, eWorld has an extensible platform that can integrate voice and text input and output. After that the intermediate language can be output as text, voice or 3D animation of sign language as required. eWorld will be able to translate freely between different (spoken)languages and different variations of sign languages.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Microsoft and Imagine Cup are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

For more information, press only

Fatima Adam Communications Manager Microsoft Singapore Tel: 6882 8992 Email: fatimaa@microsoft.com

Kevin Foo Upstream Asia Tel: +65 6323 7377 Email: kevin.foo@upstreamasia.com

About the Microsoft Imagine Cup
The Microsoft Imagine Cup, now in its second year, is a programming competition designed to provide an outlet for students to explore technological and artistic interests outside the classroom. More than 50,000 students from over 90 countries competed in the four Imagine Cup invitationals, including software design, rendering, algorithm and short film. Within Singapore, teams from five tertiary institutions participated, comprising a total of 53 teams. For more information on the Imagine Cup visit: http://www.imaginecup.com