Microsoft has announced that applications for the 2025 Microsoft Imagine Cup are now open. Students can apply to be part of the next season of Microsoft’s global startup competition.
Going into its 23rd year, the competition offers students the opportunity to develop technological solutions to address local and global challenges.
Participating in the competition opens students to new opportunities including gaining skills, connecting with like-minded individuals, access exclusive training and mentorship, and have the chance to win great prizes while contributing to a better world.
The 2025 Imagine Cup will see students tackle challenges with the help of Artificial Intelligence, giving them the chance to work with the latest generative models in Founders Hub, as well as access to Azure credits, and receive expert mentorship, all with the chance to win USD 100,000 and a mentorship session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella.
Team FOR YOUR EYES won the 2024 season by leveraging GPT-4 and their own image recognition technology to build a mobile application and API that offer real-time visual explanations to users with vision disability.
The mobile application enables users to design their own AI assistant to obtain descriptions of photos, videos, or other visual documents – and works with smart glasses and watches to describe aspects of the users’ environment. FROM YOUR EYES also licenses their technology to other developers and businesses via their API and has already secured partnerships with multiple entities.
Kenya’s team TAWI won the 2023 season with their innovation that applied machine learning tools to help children with auditory processing disorder (APD) understand others better. APD is a condition where sound is perceived by the ears, but the brain has trouble processing it. By using real-time speech recognition technology, TAWI reduces background noise, improves speech quality and converts speech to text in order to help the children understand better.
If you are a student and would like to participate in the 2025 Season of Imagine Cup, click here to apply.