An inhabitant from Iasi ranks 2nd at Microsoft - Imagine Cup

The Romanian student faced 200.000 competitors

The big problems of the actual world – global warming, fight against hunger or against AIDS, the disease of the XX century, these are challenges which informaticians can solve. With many work and creativity, they can set up technological innovations that can change the world. These are the challenges which determined the Microsoft representatives to set up a global competition directed to the students all over the world, this year being at the sixth edition. An inhabitant of Iasi managed to make himself conspicuous out of a pool of 200.000 competitors and to finish on the second place at one of the sections from the Imagine Cup competition.

After three rounds of sorting out, in a race with over 200.000 competitors, he ranks on the 2nd place. “I was sure that I would win. But the French was better”, Cosmin Viorel Ilie, the student of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEAA) from Iasi, who represented Romania at Imagine Cup and won the second position in the final that took place in Paris, said. It’s for the third time consecutively when a FEAA student reaches on the podium of the biggest competition organized by Microsoft. Imagine Cup is the most popular international competition for the students which are passionate of technology, and it is designed in order to inspire and outline the excellence in the technical innovation. This year, the contest which takes place under UNESCO’s aegis, had as main theme the problem of air pollution and global heating. “I’ve qualified at the section IT Challenge. The mission was to create a network infrastructure, with data base, e-mail, portal in order to re- present a support in finding some solutions against global warming. We were given a set of specifications, and we had to create an organization which to permanently supervise the information about air pollution and to try to solve this problem. There have been chosen two main centers – San Francisco and Paris, and others secondary that should have the capacity of taking over all the attribution of the main centers, in case in which one failed. We had to implement over 20 services that had to be available anytime”, Cosmin Ilie explains the theme of the competition Imagine Cup of this year. In this way, the young people were challenged to make new projections for the near future, in which the technology brought radical changes in the global heating area. He had two months for finalizing a project in that the digital world had to interact with the real world, the goal being represented by reducing the pollution. In one month he documented intensively about the environmental problems and the air pollutant emissions, he established the technical solution and sent the project to the jury. For the last round were chosen only six solutions from all over the world.

The big challenge

It wasn’t for the first time when he stepped in the final stage of the contest with a project. At the last year’s edition, from Seul, he had for the first time this experience. “It had a big importance the participation since 2007, when I was on the third position. The finals lasted for 24 hours, time in which we had to make a synthesis of the project that we’ve sent to the jury. At the end of the marathon we had ten minutes to present our solutions. As many from the implemented subjects must be functional”, the student from Iasi explains. At Seul the experience was similar with a formula 1 race. He was exhausted. “After 24 hours I wasn’t able not even to speak. It was exhausting also the journey till there, the fact that I’ve entered the second day in competition after tens of hours of drive. At the competition I’ve done some mistakes for which I paid with 12 hours from the competition. But, as a professor says, this competition doesn’t show what you know, but what you are”, Cosmin says. Although he took the program from the start many times, he succeeded to finalize in Korea the project and to obtain the third position. For Paris, the Asian experience represented a huge support, as from the moral point of view as in what concerns the approaches modality of the final round. He prepared himself for two months, knowing in detail his work and every detail which could have put him into difficulty. “We had to have a complete solution that could have been implemented. I’ve focused on the financial part, being student of a faculty with economical profile. Most of competitors focused on the technological part, I’ve focused but on the costs, on how the investment could be recovered”, the student says.

He was defeated by a French

The final marathon is “divided” in 5 pieces. Each of those six finalists had to solve five similar tasks. “At each seven hours we were given a task. We had an hour at disposal, and after exactly 60 minutes, an alarm interrupted us, and the jury examined if the task was functional. For example it was checked if the mail was functional from an internet-cafe. It’s simple, the tasks were much more complex. I failed this year, just one of five tasks”, Cosmin Ilie says. “Must-do” next to the presentation of 10 minutes are important in designating the win- ner. A set of final questions made the difference on this year. “I based a lot on the fact that there will be the same final themes as last year. I prepared with solutions, but the themes were changed”, Cosmin says. The competition was finally won by a French, without being related of the fact that this edition took place in Paris. “If I wasn’t sure that everything is right, I wouldn’t have participated”, the student from Iasi says.

A student of “seven and a little”

The prizes were insignificant. The first place won 8.000 dollars, while Cosmin Ilie left home with 4.000 dollars. “These are symbolic sums. The interest is to participate young passionate people, involved in this domain and that can be remarked through this competition”, Cosmin Ilie explains, which admits that he wasn’t one of the top students, but who confesses that the experience from Imagine Cup was an extraordinary one. “I’ve finished the faculty with seven and something but I took the degree with 10, and this raised me”, the fresh graduated of FEEA says.

A professor from Iasi in a jury with Americans

he competition of this year was more complicated due to the fact that in the jury of the prestigious competition was even a professor from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEAA). It’s about Valerica Serban Greavu, administrator of the network FEAA. He was finalist at two of the previous editions of Imagine Cup, and further he became quite active on forums and in debates with the young people that fallowed to subscribe in the competition. “At the press conference he was given example as how you can climb from the statute of participant, in the board of the competition. During the contest, with me he spoke the less, for not being rumored that he advantaged me”, Cosmin Ilie says. The professor from Iasi was in the jury next to three authorities from the IT domain. The president of the jury was Rand Morimoto, one of the four consultants of the United States president on IT themes, member in the NASA board and president of an important consulting company in IT. Next to him was Chris Amaris, vice-president of the consulting company, good friend with Randi Morimoto, as also Jeff Guillet, another shareholder of the company.