Three of New Zealand's most entrepreneurial university students will be heading home from the United States next week with some amazing memories and experiences.
Duoyi Xu, 21, Hayley Yu, 22, and Edwin Tsang, 20, went head-to-head with 34 other teams from around the world this week, all vying to win Microsoft's technology competition - the Imagine Cup. The team's project, Clove, is a multi-platform app and website that allows consumers to have meals delivered while home-based cooks can improve their business and test recipes. Despite not securing a win, the team said the experience had been incredible.
"[It] was an amazing experience to interact with the most amazing student ideas in the world and be exposed to how these projects can make a meaningful impact in our world," the team said. "We are extremely grateful for this opportunity and hope to still continue taking our idea forward."
Now in its 14th year, the Imagine Cup sees high school and university students develop a project using Microsoft technology and compete in one of three categories - Innovation, Games or World Citizenship. Teams compete in national finals before going on to the World Semi Finals. Winners from this then head to Microsoft's hometown of Seattle, courtesy of the company, to compete on a global stage. Since the competition was launched in 2003, nearly 1.8 million students from 190 countries have competed.
Having won the New Zealand and Asia Pacific finals, the University of Auckland students flew to Seattle this week. While there, the trio got to meet teams from around the world, try out Microsoft's famed virtual reality headset Hololens, and demo their project to Microsoft staff.
