Microsoft New Zealand held its preliminary finals for the Imagine Cup technology competition for students yesterday, which will lead to one winning team traveling to Poland in July for the worldwide finals.

Microsoft New Zealand held the preliminary finals in its Auckland offices where 20 teams pitched their projects developed using Microsoft technology to a panel of six judges. Four teams were chosen as New Zealand finalists and the winning national team will be chosen on April 30th at the University of Auckland Business School. The winning team will represent New Zealand at the worldwide Imagine Cup in Warsaw, Poland in July.

The four teams advancing to the national finals are:

Team One Beep: From the University of Auckland, the team developed a system for delivering data over conventional radio transmitters in order to enable education material to be delivered to impoverished schools and communities where there are no phone lines or internet services.

Team Enpeda: From the University of Auckland, the team created a working prototype of a computer controlled driver assistance system that uses a cell phone camera and is able to warn drivers by detecting the road environment ahead.

Team eUtopia: From the University of Waikato, the team developed a live video distribution service that links conservation organisations to the public and allows for remote monitoring, private research and animal surveillance.

Team Vital Link: From the University of Auckland, the team focused on the issue of fair trade for artisans in impoverished countries by providing a global marketplace and using the viral marketing capabilities of Facebook to help artisans make enough money to improve their daily lives.

Panel judge and NZICT CEO Brett O’Riley said, “Going by the high caliber of projects on display today, the future of New Zealand’s ICT industry appears to be in good hands.”

Scott Wylie, Director of the Developer and Platform Group for Microsoft NZ agreed and said, “The quality of the proposals this year has been even better than years past.”

More than 100 local teams entered the competition last December, out of which the top 20 received mentoring assistance from Microsoft New Zealand employees and industry experts. The worldwide competition has more than 100 participating countries and is now in its eight year.

Pictured at right are the Imagine Cup finalist teams and judges.