Techie student teams representing the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia and Palestine have made it to the finals of Microsoft's 2015 Imagine World Cup.
The annual competition, referred to as "the world's premier student technology competition" according to Microsoft, is divided into three categories: World Citizenship, Games, and Innovation.
In the World Citizenship category, the UAE team has made it to the finals for its app VioLens that serves as a platform for "victims and bystanders [to] confidentially report instances of abuse." The Tunisian team goes on to compete in the finals for the Games category with "Back in Time," a 3D game developed using Unity engine. With a brain-controlled robot, the Palestinian team will compete in the Innovation category finals.
Dubbed "Freedom Fragrance" the Emirati team is composed of Artaza Aziz, Heba Nayef, and Jawad Jandali Refai. According to their profile, the trio aims "to stop women and children abuse."
From Tunisia, "T2" is made up of Bilel Tabakh and Haythem Stiti who together hope "to enrich the game industry with unique and funny video games that solve real life problems and introduce new games' concepts in the market."
Two students from Birzeit University make up Palestine's "BCR" team, which created a project that uses EEG signals or brain waves reading technologies to help paralyzed people around the world communicate with the people around them.
The three teams already beat out 36 competitors in the Imagine Cup Pan Arab to each win $7,000. The Palestinian team also took home the grand prize in the Pan Arab semifinals, winning the Imagine Cup Pan Arab trophy and a one-week internship at Tech Wadi in California's Silicon Valley. All three teams will go on to compete in the world finals at Microsoft's headquarters in Seattle from July 27 to 31.
Thirty-three teams from around the world will compete in the final competition with 12 teams in the World Citizenship and Innovation categories and nine in the Games category. The winning teams stand to take home $50,000 and will meet the CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella.
Following the Pan Arab semifinals, Palestinian team BCR said "the competition was tough but we kept our focus on winning and representing Palestine in the next round. We cannot believe that we were awarded the special prize and will spend time in Silicon Valley gaining an insight into the life of developers," according to a press release.
For its part, Freedom Fragrance from the UAE said "we will spare no effort or time in finalizing our project for the global stage and bring the Worldwide Cup back home to UAE and the Arab region."
The international event "empowers students to use their creativity to solve the world’s toughest problems through technology as well as provides the opportunity to develop an idea, create a product, and set a clear business plan that will take their product to market."
Last year, an Egyptian team came in third place in the the Games category at the world finals and a Bahraini team also took home third place in the Innovation category.