Winners! Team SOAK: 2008 Microsoft Imagine Cup Worldwide Software Design Champions!

Congratulation to Team SOAK from Australia! The 2008 Microsoft Imagine Cup Software Design Worldwide Finals Champions! You brought home the (green and) gold!

I am extremely proud of your final achievement! You have achieved a first for Australia! Well done, David Burela (University of Tasmania), Dimaz Pramudya (Swinburne University), Ed Hooper (Melbourne University), Long Zheng (Monash University)!

Related links:

• Microsoft Announces Imagine Cup 2008 Winners (Microsoft Presspass)
• Australian students win global software competition (ZDNet Australia)
• Team SOAK! (frankarr – an aussie microsoft blogger)
• Aussies win tech prize for saving water (The Australian IT)
• Video of Team SOAK Final Round Presentation (Soapbox) (via MSOZACADEMIC)

PS: Thanks for sending me the sms on your victory!

Team SOAK into the Final 6

Team SOAK has exceed all expectation and has made it into the very last round of the worldwide Imagine Cup Software Design. They are in the FINAL 6! Awesome! Well done Ed, Dave, Dimaz and Long!

You even made your own team t-shirts! Way to go!

Related links:

• Let’s Meet our Top Teams! Software Design Team From Australia: SOAK! (2008 Imagine Cup Finals Blog)
• Aussie students close in on Microsoft prize (ZDNet Australia)

Australia Through to the Semis!

Team SOAK (Australia Imagine Cup Software Design representative) is through to the semi-finals of the 2008 Imagine Cup Finals in Paris, France!

This is a FANTASTIC result, the best in three years!

The complete list of teams that made it through the finals are:

* Australia
* Slovakia
* Portugal
* Brazil
* China
* France
* Hungary
* Singapore
* South Africa
* South Korea
* Croatia
* Russia

Courtesy of Roger Lawrence

Good Luck Team SOAK – 2008 Australia Imagine Cup Champions

All the very best of luck to Team SOAK (L-R: Long Zheng, Dimaz Pramudya, David Burela, Ed Hoopers), the 2008 Australia Imagine Cup Champions during the 2008 Worldwide Imagine Cup Finals. I feel particularly proud of the quality of this year’s team. Here are my top 5 reasons why this team rocks:

• Water, a real serious issue in country Australia. The team aspires to help to help farmers achieve sustainable use of their land by utilising sensor networks to ensure the best use of precious water resources.
• Diversity, in the team setup. Team SOAK is made up of students from 4 Australian Universities, between two states (VIC and TAS) which includes Monash, Melbourne, Swinburne and the University of Tasmania. This multi-cultural team reflects the modern diverse Australian society.
• Preparation. I know how early this team had been preparing for the competition. Ed has been aiming, learning and preparing for this competition since the 2007 Australia Imagine Cup finals.
• Passion. This team is made up of 3 Microsoft Student Partners and 1 “bloody” Microsoft blogger. Common among them is a serious passion for technology, dream big and take technology onto the field.
• Mates. This guys are my friends and I am proud of their current success. Anything more is a bonus. Good luck, boys!

Related links:

• Students saving the world for a rainy day (The Age)
• Roger Lawrence’s Imagine Cup coverage from Paris

Team SOAK: 2008 Australia Imagine Cup Winners

Team SOAK comprise of David Burela (Microsoft Student Partner, University of Tasmania), Long Zheng (Monash University, blogger extraordinaire of istartedsomething.com), Ed “h00ps” Hooper (Star Microsoft Student Partner, University of Melbourne – I recruited this man into the program!) and Dimaz Pramudya (Swinburne University) are the 2008 Australia Imagine Cup winners! The 03 area code (VIC and TAS) won the day!

Australia is the driest continent on earth and the persistent drought has been hitting the farmers and our wallets hard. Team SOAK put their minds together to develop SOAK and address a real environment challenge for Australia.

SOAK is an integrated software and hardware platform with the aspiration of helping farmers achieve sustainable use of their land. This is achieved through the integrated use of environmental sensing, rich visual front ends to display the information to the farmer, and a subsystem which controls farm equipment such as sprinkler systems

Check out Project SOAK: winning Australian Imagine Cup finals (istartedsomething.com) for more details.

Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment and SOAK is spot on! Well done, boys!

PS: It is a pity, there hasn’t been any pictures nor blog updates mentioned about Thur’s Australian Finals from the AU Imagine Cup web site or local Imagine Cup blog since 12 May.

1235 Update: Long Zheng’s article was updated and mentioned the other members of Team SOAK namely, Ed Hooper and Dimaz Pramudya. Guys, time to pick up that old Year 12 French text book.