After a months-long entry and judging process, Microsoft has now named the three teams who will be the finalists for the company"s 2024 edition of the Imagine Cup student competition.
This year"s competition required that the student teams come up with software or hardware products that were based in some way on AI. Microsoft gave teams a certain amount of help at each stage of the competition including access to its Startups Founders Hub, free OpenAI and Azure credits, and more.
In a blog post, Microsoft offered more details on each of the final teams and the startup product they have created as part of the competition., The first team hails from Turkey. It has developed a smartphone app called FROM YOUR EYES. Here"s the summary:
Using Azure Computer Vision and Text Translator, FROM YOUR EYES has built a mobile application that offers both fast and qualified visual explanations to visually impaired users.
The second team is based in the UK and has created a software product called JRE that"s made specifically for the steel industry:
Using Azure Machine Learning, Microsoft Fabric, and Copilot, JRE has built a slag detection system used in the continuous casting process of steel. Accurately detecting slag optimizes yield while improving quality.
The third and final team comes from the US. It has made a productivity app called PlanRoadmap for a certain audience:
Using Azure OpenAI Service, PlanRoadmap has built an AI-powered productivity coach to help people with ADHD who are struggling with task paralysis get their tasks done. Their coach asks questions to identify the user"s obstacles, suggests strategies, and teaches the user about their work style.
These three teams will now go through the final judging process. The ultimate winning team will be revealed during Microsoft"s Build 2024 developers conference on May 21-23 in Seattle. That one will get a $100,000 cash prize and a personal mentoring session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The two runner-up teams will each receive $50,000.