Contestants gear up for Imagine Cup finals

Microsoft Qatar will host the Imagine Cup 2016 Qatar national finals under the patronage of HE the Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti on April 25 at Marsa Malaz Kempinski Hotel, The Pearl - Doha. This year, the Imagine Cup national finals will see the participation of teams representing Qatar University (QU), Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMUQ) and Texas A&M University at Qatar (Tamuq).The event brings forth the “smartest minds to celebrate the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship”, aimed at empowering youths aged 16 years and above across Qatar, according to a statement. Naim Yazbeck, general manager,  Microsoft Qatar, said, “Imagine Cup is a platform that endorses and creates an opportunity for young minds to unleash their creative skills in order to develop applications necessary for building prosperous and sustainable communities.”Six teams from different campuses have been shortlisted to participate in the finale.  The teams in the Innovation category are Team Mobilised Shade (QU): Zainab Jamal Dookhy, Shatha Jassim al-Khanji, Sumayya Muslim Joul, Fatima Usman; Team AggiEgys (Tamuq): Hosam Sayed, Abdulrahman Abdelghafar, Mohamed Ahmed, Alaa Ehab Abdalla; and Team Xblink (QU): Mohamed Taha, Mohamed Houkan, Ammar Nofal, Mohamed al-Khateb.In the World Citizenship category, the teams are Team BuzzCast (CMUQ): Yousuf Akhlaq, Musab Popatia, Yasser El-Sayyed and Mohamed Fituri; Team Hidden-Codes (QU): Walid Jaber, Ali Abbas Mohamed, Mohamed Khodadady, Mudassir Saleem; and Team Mecha-Oryx (QU): Ahmad Hasan Aqel, Sharief Essam Saleh, Tarek Salaheldin Shaban, Mohamed Jamal Fadll.The national winners will advance to the next round and represent Qatar in the third Annual Pan-Arab semi-finals to be held in Cairo, Egypt, on May 27.