A group of Kenyan students is amongst the teams selected to the finals of Microsoft’s Annual Global Student Technology Competition.
The three Kenyan teams comprise students from the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology and the United States International University (USIU).
“We came together as we collectively share a passion for technology with each having a preference,” Team Carfrilearn from Dedan Kimathi said.
The competition's aim to encourage innovation amongst students and encourage them to be agents of change in society by taking advantage of the first growing technology industry.
The undergraduate students who are undertaking different projects from Education, Healthcare Earth, or Lifestyle have been divided into Team Carfrilearn, Team Intellivolt, and Team Reweba - with each eying the big prize.
Team Carfrilearn used their creativity to create an application that has the ability to facilitate online learning though mobile phone. The affordable learning method is especially useful at this time when online learning is becoming a norm.
The aim of their project, which they named Makini, is to ensure that students who ail from marginalized communities get access to low-cost learning materials while encouraging creativity amongst other campus students.
Team Intellivolt has an alert system project in which electric voltage is being monitored and real-time alerts are sent to relevant authorities as emails or SMS.
Tem Rewebe on the other hand has a project in healthcare, in which a system monitors a baby’s growth and sends them to healthcare professionals for appropriate intervention.
The Kenyan teams are made up of both fourth and third-year students and are competing against learners from the United States, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and Nepal amongst many other countries.
In the 2021 competition Microsoft competition dabbed Imagine Cup, the winning team will have both financial benefits, a trophy, and exposure to Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer, Satya Nadella.
The estimated price in the final competition which is scheduled for March 30 is $75,000 (Ksh 8,235,000). Runners up will get $2,500 (Ksh 274,500) and Azure credits.
The world’s finest team of students will be expected to defend their project in a question and answers session and completely demonstrate that they are providing a solution to the daily challenges of society.
In 2020, a team from Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology won $8000 (Ksh 878,000) from the Regional Microsoft Competitions.
