BY EMEKA AGINAM

With Imagine Cup 2014 worldwide finals underway, there appears to be growing anxiety among semifinalists including Team Nigeria jostling to scale through for the world wide finals as the software giant, Microsoft concludes the online voting today.

Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia are among African countries in the category of World Citizenship jostling with Nigeria to make it to the worldwide final.

But only two countries out of the 8 countries listed above will be selected to showcase their solution in the global stage next month.

Imagine Cup is an annual competition sponsored and hosted by Microsoft Corp. which brings together young technologists worldwide to help resolve some of the world’s toughest challenges.

Already, the 2014 Imagine Cup semifinals brought together more than 170 students team from 76 countries around the world.

Unlike in the previous contest where every country is represented, the rule has basically changed. This year, only two African countries are expected to fly the continent’s flag at the worldwide finals holding in Seattle, the United States of America this summer.

By today when the online voting would have been announced, students team from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho who are currently jostling to fly the continent’s Nigerian flag at the Worldwide will know their fate.

The students had won the national finals after competing with eight other teams from Nigerian Universities during a challenging day of presentations of innovative solutions.

It would be recalled that Adefioye Temidayo, Faleye Benjamin, Oyebisi Jemil and Ibraheem Bello of Team High Rise were the national winners in this year in the category of World Citizenship.

Team High Rise had developed a solution, Catara which serves the purpose of drastically reducing the rate at which cataract causes total blindness.

Oyebisi Jemil, a member of Team High Rise while speaking with Vanguard Hi-Tech on telephone yesterday said that they have submitted their solution for online voting

“Our solution is innovative enough to be showcased in the world stage. We have done our work. We are waiting for result. We will do Nigeria proud” he said with optimism.

“Each team that competed in the competition is deserving of the highest recognition for the creativity and imagination applied to some of the world’s biggest challenges.

“We’re proud to honour these young students who we believe truly exemplify the spirit of the Imagine Cup competition, and we’ll be cheering Team High Rise on as they compete on the world stage.

“Imagine Cup is also directly aligned with the Microsoft 4AfrikaInitiative that was launched last year as it drives access to technology, innovation and world-class skills.

“We believe deeply that technology can accelerate growth for Africa, and Africa can also accelerate technology for the world.”Shina Oyetosho, Director, Developer Platform Evangelist for Microsoft Nigeria, had earlier said shortly after announcing the results during national finals competition in Lagos.

If things turn out good, the Team High Rise whose solution has shown positive signals will join the brightest young minds from other other countries to represent Africa at the global stage.

In previous years, only a few of the very best teams made it to the World Finals and received global recognition for their hard work.

Students across the globe had been invited to use their imagination and passion to create a technology solution in one of our competitions and challenges.

For the record, over the past ten years, more than 1.65 million students from more than 190 countries have participated in the Imagine Cup.

Joining the Imagine Cup community enables students to connect with other whip-smart creatives from all over the world to share ideas, have fun, and be there when the next big thing is unveiled.

The intent and spirit of the Competition is to test the skills and creativity of the student entrants.

Any one acting as a team Mentor must limit the level of support provided to student entrants to general guidance and must not contribute in any way that may be considered original authorship, or in a way that may enable claims of rights or ownership to the submitted entries.