Imagine Cup is not just about a bunch of technology geek students gather together and compete their programming skill. Imagine Cup encourage students dare to dream about the future world where technology help to create a better world. It doesn’t matter which field are you from, as long as you are a student and dare to dream, then Imagine Cup is something where you can show the world how we should shape the future of our world.

Meet team TECH4Life from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia. The team consist of  Wong Poh Lee, Lee Heng Wei, Wu Kuan Herng and Chim Jeng Yang. They are the first team from Malaysia that consist of students from different kind of major. They have make all the way to the top 6 final in Envisioning 2020 Award, Imagine Cup 2010 at Poland. The Envisioning 2020 Award challenged students to express their vision for how technology will transform our lives by the year 2020.

What is their envision all about?

We envision that advancement in technology will foster interaction between humans, animals, and plants in the next 10 years. At that time we will be able to have a more intimate relationship with other living entities. By understanding the message which our partners, animals and plants, are trying to tell us, we are able to evaluate our technology impacts towards the environment by judging their perspectives. We are not doing man-like talking with them but rather listening, for respect and harmony with the environment. Therefore technology advancement in next 10 years will be focusing on integrating animals and plants abilities in developing a new trend of technology which takes into consideration all life as a whole. Humans will not only think from human perspectives, but also listen to the needs and views of other living entities by measuring their messages like movement and other bio-parameters. We categorized “us” in a broad category which includes all the living entities on this earth. We call this “Tech for us, Tech for life”

It is almost a year after Imagine Cup 2010 Worldwide final at Poland end. Some of you, including I were interested to know how are they doing now and their thought of Imagine Cup after the trip to the Imagine Cup 2010 final at Poland. I’m lucky enough to have a short Q&A section with them virtually and learn about their story after Imagine Cup.

Q: What are you all doing now?

A: Most of us are still studying. Our first member is graduating this year. He is graduating in Masters in Housing, Building and Planning. The second member is pursuing his part-time Masters in Management while becoming a lecturer in a college. The third member is pursuing his part-time doctorate in Computer Science and the fourth member is still pursuing this Degree in Management.

“Each of them is walking on a different path, but they all heading toward to create a better tomorrow.”

Q: Did Imagine Cup change your life?

A: We came from different schools. Therefore, it is a good experience to share our knowledge from different perspective, not only from the computer science side. Getting a chance to go all the way to the Worldwide Finals gives us the opportunity to see and to know the standards and level of expertise coming from competitors all over the world. This competition changes our life by giving us the motivation, to move forward and to set higher standards in achieving our goals. Besides, we could see the effort and sacrifices they have placed in to achieve their goals.

“The future of the world should not envision by sciences and technology students only, but students from all kind of fields.”

Q: What is the most important lesson you all have learned by joining Imagine Cup?

A: Our team actually works very well as most of us have a specific task to achieve. This could be the reason that we are from different schools and we could focus on different sections individually before combining our ideas into one.

“Just like their envision, to create a better world, we must understand and learn from each other first.”

Q: What has been your team most favorite part of the Imagine Cup competition and why?

A: We could say that we enjoy every part of Imagine Cup competition. A combination of stress, fun and disappointment makes the whole competition interesting. Though our team was not announced as the winner, but we had a great time experiencing the competitor’s presentation, results presentation and great ideas from all over the world.

“It doesn’t matter win or lose. The experience and memories make this whole journey meaningful.”

Q: Give us a short and creativity sentences using your own word that you will use to encourage other students to join Imagine Cup in future.

A: Imagine Cup is like the Olympics but in the form of technologies. It is a competition for students to show their talents and great ideas which could help to shape the future.

“I bet we can’t find such grand competition for technology else where other than Imagine Cup.”

With their success, I really hope more students especially from non-computer sciences background can join Imagine Cup and create a better future together.

by Ooi Keng Siang via Ooiks’s Blog