A group of four Maltese second-year university students, is proud to be the first Maltese team selected among the top 12 during Microsoft’s prestigious global competition Imagine Cup.

“For the first time ever, from the tiny island in the Mediterranean...,” that’s all they heard while holding hands and biting lips before they were screaming and running up to the stage with the Maltese flag in hand. Yet they could not believe their success before presenting their project to a panel of eight experts in the field.

On Sunday, the team presented its project entitled: myderm – which connects doctors in the developed world with volunteer healthcare workers in third world countries to find solutions for dermatological problems, to a smaller panel of four judges.

Imagine Cup is now in its eighth year and aims to solve global problems with the use of technology. Microsoft acknowledges that students are the greatest innovators in the world and in fact has chosen the eight millennium goals as the underlying themes. The competition motivates students to bring their ideas to life through real-world solutions while competing for cash prizes totaling some USD240,000 across five competition categories, Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Design, Digital Media, and IT Challenge.

The team of Daniela Cauchi, Claire Dimech, Stefan Lia and Kurt Farrugia was chosen from among 68 groups competing in the software design competition in Warsaw and yesterday morning participated in the second round of the competition. They are perhaps the youngest among competitors and definitely part of a small contingent, but they are getting equal attention. Microsoft employees from Eastern and Central Europe, Australia and Equador were present to support the team and see what it had to bring forward while journalists from Malaysia, Slovenia and the UK also attended. They were impressed that each team member knew the subject well and when one failed to give the exact answer a judge expected, another joined in with the precise words.

In an interview with The Malta Independent, as they breathe a sigh of relief following the presentation and a question and answer session from the judges, the team pointed out the effort they have put into the project and the challenges they faced.

“We have been preparing since November,” they said noting their project was developed as part of their annual BSC ICT/ Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence course work assigned practical task. This carries 10 ECTS and a minimum 52 hours of work are expected from each student. However this group calculates it worked on the project for some 52 hours per week over some six months.

“We used to meet at Claire’s flat, which is close to the university grounds, at 8.30am every morning before lectures and continued working on the project during every free hour in between,” they said. They often went back to their base after lectures until 7pm everyday and then logged onto Skype, discussing developments as soon as they got back home and during weekends. They claim they have given up their social life and some sleep for this, but nonetheless their efforts have so far been very rewarding. Imagine Cup is giving them exposure before the top computer scientists in the world as well as allowing them to share knowledge with fellow students, making connections, contrasting and comparing their work and gaining experience.

“After a week working together we started going crazy,” they laughed as they referred to the arguments that often resulted in improving ideas.

Spending time with them on the night before their second presentation, I realised they were striving for perfection even when preparing drawings to describe themselves, Malta and their project.

Initially, they explained, each team member came up with a project idea, which included conducting lessons online for deprived children, joining slums together to help solve problems and create a better society, as well as a system to reduce carbon emissions. However, the idea of creating a link between doctors and healthcare workers in the developed and underdeveloped world was thought to be the most original by their mentors.

“We barely knew each other at the beginning and became friendly,” they pointed out but soon they started having arguments which could only be resolved with further research as well as assistance from their mentors. Finding ways to work effectively as a team was the greatest challenge they faced. Another difficulty was to apply the theoretical knowledge they had from their course work, into practical work.

“It was often by trial and error that we discovered how the programmes we wanted to use actually worked,” they said. At times it was difficult and the team members often thought of giving up before they discussed their problems with the rest of the group and the team supported each other immensely. Their mentor Kristian Guillaumier and lecturers including John Abela, their families, friends as well as fellow competitors in Malta and in Warsaw were also very supportive.

Their next step is to deploy the project into practice. More tests and validation processes with doctors and healthcare workers are necessary before this is possible. The Gozo ministry has meanwhile offered to help test the system at the Gozo General Hospital. The team will also be working on making the system more secure for better data protection.

While they may not be participating in next year’s Imagine Cup, to focus more on their studies and final year thesis, the team definitely recommends Imagine Cup for anyone who comes across the opportunity.

“Imagine Cup opens a whole myriad of opportunities, don’t think twice,” was their advice.