Last week was the culmination of a really amazing academic year and what better way to end than with our last MSP meeting of the year and the finals of the Imagine Cup Software Design Challenge.
Microsoft Student Partner Event, Cambridge, June 20th
The weekend hit temperatures of 30 degrees and heatwave proportions and the Academic Team and 40 MSPs headed up to the beautiful town of Cambridge for a punting and walking treasure hunt around the River Cam and some of the most famous colleges along the Backs. The highlights of the day included Andy ripping his trousers whilst attempting to board a punt and John Cumbers ending up in the Cam!
The "Dream" Team; Caroline, James, Darrell, Phil and Mike
The next day was spent at Microsoft Research for a day of fantastic speakers including Andrew Herbert, Richard Black, Tim Regan and our very own Stephen Turner who talked about the future of software engineering, network topology, social media spaces and Longhorn. We also announced our three MSP Star Award winners – Mykel Kochenderfer, University of Edinburgh; Michael Phillipson, University of Wales, Aberystwyth and Antranik Kasparian, University of Sheffield who will each going to Tech.Ed Europe as a thank you for their outstanding contribution over the past year.
Imagine Cup 2005 Software Design Finals, BT Tower, London June 21st
From Cambridge, Andy and I trekked down to London for the Imagine Cup briefing meeting at Microsoft’s central London offices in Soho followed by dinner at Planet Hollywood. Three of the eight teams then stayed up all night coding … and then headed straight over to the BT Tower for the Imagine Cup finals proper which were this year sponsored by BT in association with Capgemini and 3i. The eight finalists spent the day presenting to a mix of business and technology experts and showcasing their applications on the 34th Floor of the BT Tower to a mix of VIPs, press and university lecturers. All of the applications were truly outstanding ranging from an emergency services application from Team Babbage to a MediaCenter takeaway ordering application from Team Sharp Scots; just take a look at the Imagine Cup Brochure to find out more, read the official press release or take a look at the articles on BBC Online and Builder.
Peter Richards, Imagine Cup UK 2004 finalist now working as a developer at BT and Joe Black, BT on the 34th Floor
The winning teams on the day however were in first place: Team Bit Shifters with their OneReach gap-year student travelling companion; in second place Team Genesys Innovations from the University of Sheffield which included our only female finalist; Nicola Walton; and in third place was Team mSpace from the University of Southampton.
David Burrows, Microsoft Director of Education, Team Bit Shifters & Dr Sinclair Stockman, BT
After the formalities of the day we then made our way over to the substation of Namco on London's famous South Bank for some serious games and relaxation including a Microsoft/BT challenge of pool and bowling as well as a few well earned beers. I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of the sponsors, judges
as well as the students and lecturers for an amazing day which I will personally never forget.
And I'm sad to say that it really is the end of an era as many of the MSPs and Imagine Cup entrants have just graduated and are now entering the IT industry.... good luck to you all and keep in touch!