"Its competitions like Imagine Cup that truly help us identify the exceptional talents of young minds in Sri Lanka as they commit themselves over the span of a year to develop creative applications for everyday processes and it has always been an invigorating experience as they spend endless hours on brainstorming, implementing and fine tuning to become the best at the local competition. Also the opportunity that they get by participating in the global competition with versatile students of the same age has helped immensely in developing themselves to suit the employment market of today’s day and age. We have great confidence that the winning team will do Sri Lanka proud at the international level and I wish all of them the best of luck in this endeavor." expressed Dr. Chathura de Silva, Senior Lecturer, University of Moratuwa.

Open to students from across the globe, the Imagine Cup has gradually grown year on year, with over 300,000 students from over 100 countries registering this year. Further more teams from many countries in different competition categories will attend the worldwide finals in Egypt in July 2009.

With a view to to extend ICT programmes throughout the country and especially at the grassroot level, Microsoft SL has changed the entry level criteria for the competition so that any student who meets the applicable age requirement of a minimum of 16 years and is enrolled at a university or accredited educational institute that offer university degrees, any time between January 1, 2008, and May 31, 2009 can participate in the 2009 Imagine Cup. Students can enter under any one of the following nine categories; Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Development, Robotics and Algorithm, IT Challenge, MashUp, Photography, Short Film and Design. More details and online registration can be done at www.imaginecup.lk and www.imaginecup.com Graduates and PhD students are also able to compete; however, they cannot use unpublished research for their projects.

"The ‘Imagine Cup’ is Microsoft’s way of encouraging youth to take on an active role in shaping their respective futures. The Imagine cup competition encourages students from across the country, to be creative and innovative and go in depth into grave issues that face us today, which in turn will pave the way to novel, tailor made solutions to specific problems. The competition also promotes dynamic team work and strategy, so as to generate the best possible results. The ‘Imagine Cup’ is constantly expanding and evolving and Microsoft hopes to make it as comprehensive and productive as possible," explained Microsoft Developer Evangelist – Wellington Perera.