USIU student team qualifies for Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship

USIU student team qualifies for Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship

Kenya’s student team TAWI has qualified for the 2023 Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship set to take place in May. The team emerged winners in the education category of the 2023 Imagine Cup world finals qualifying round. Beating 15 other teams to become the top-scoring team and 2023 Europe Middle East and Africa(EMEA) champions. They won USD5,000 in prizes.

Team TAWI also qualified from 48 competing global teams to be selected among the top 3 that will compete in the 2023 Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship. Where they will compete for the Imagine Cup trophy, the grand prize of USD100,000 to develop their project, and a mentoring session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella.

Microsoft Imagine Cup World finalist from Kenya Team TAWI

Team TAWI consists of Muna Said Nomy, John Onsongo Mabeya, Syntiche Musawu, Applied Computer Technology, and Zakariya Hussein, Data Science and Analytics undergraduate students of the United States International University (USIU) – Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. Their innovative solution TAWI looks to make a difference in the lives of those who struggle with auditory processing.

The USIU student team will become the second from the institution to make it to the finals of the Microsoft student technology competition in three successive years. The former became the first student team from Africa to win the competition in its history.

The home-based software leverages real-time speech recognition technology to help children with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) communicate more effectively. Instead of traditional hearing aids, TAWI uses earphones to amplify speech and cancel out background noise, making it easier for children with APD to engage in conversations and interact with others. It includes noise cancellation, sound amplification, speech-to-text conversion, and auditory training exercises.

The team will present TAWI at Microsoft Build 2023 where the Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship takes place. They will compete against the winning teams from the Americas and Asia regions. Eupnea from the United States and CS-M Tool from Thailand, both from the Health category.

Student teams, Smart Farmer and iBoost from Kenya also emerged as EMEA winners in the Earth and Lifestyle categories respectively.

Hongera to these incredible young developers and all the best to Team TAWI in the championship!🎉

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UPDATE: 05/04/2023
– corrected the MEA winning prize value from USD50,000 to read USD5,000.
– corrected study program

Check out other Microsoft stories making the news across Africa and the Middle East region.