You may or may not have read my post on how the technology that you use can influence your chances in the Imagine Cup competition, but today that post was validated a little bit. In the post that I am referring to, I noted that Microsoft has certain technologies that they like to have included in Imagine Cup projects. Last year, it was Microsoft Azure. This year, the focus has changed to Windows Phone 7.
To drive this point home, Microsoft has created an entire competition based on the mobile platform. Information on the Windows Phone 7 competition can be found here. Much like the Embedded Device competition, this one seems to be judged on the global stage only. So it seems that there may be some additional opportunities to get to the World Finals for Imagine Cup for those Software Development Invitational (SDI) teams that do not win their national prize. Provided, of course, that they developed their application on the mobile platform.
My university had a team do something like this last year. Their application was not selected for the National Finals in the SDI competition, but they changed their concept and resubmitted to the Embedded Device competition and were selected to compete on the world stage. So, if you are not selected for your national finals, just know this….the door has not entirely closed. There are numerous ways to get to the World Finals in New York, you just have to be persistent and creative with your projects to take advantage of them.
Dr. James Parrish 