Lagos — Team Indwell of the Obafemi Awolowo University last week, emerged national champions of this year's Microsoft Imagine Cup competition which held at the University of Lagos CITS complex, Lagos.

With this feat the team would be representing Nigeria at the World Finals in Poland.

According to the group whose winning entry was titled; Brain Media, the software creates access to quality education throughout the world. This is done through a platform that builds relationships which combines people, teachers, children, students and other professionals in the developed nations with those in the developing and under developed nations.

Through this software, they said, quality resources are made available for everybody irrespective of their geographical location, political climate and gender inequality.

Team Indwell is made up of Abiola Olaniran, Adeboye Oshinaga and Akinbiyi Omole all 400 level students of the Faculty of Technology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife.

A visibly excited Omole said the, "Concept for our project developed out of joint passion by all three of us to change the face of African education using technology, and we started intensive research on the project about two years ago. Imagine Cup competition is timely and would help showcase our talents."

He said many more talents abound in the country that can be nurtured to become the best on the continent if corporate organisations can come up with innovative programmes like Imagine Cup.

Making its second attempt, the team beat five others at the keenly contested event to come out tops.

Team Green won the Most Innovative prize with their Poverty Alleviation Portal, a food management scheme aimed at ensuring food security in the country.

Team Wings came 2nd with the Viridis software which is targeted at helping in environmental protection, maintenance of vegetation cover as well as monitoring of carbon emission in the environment.

Speaking at the event, Development Platform Manager, Microsoft Nigeria, Mr. Ken Spann, said, "This is the third year Nigeria has sent a team to the Imagine Cup finals. This year saw an increase in the number of schools and students participating in the annual Microsoft sponsored software competition. It is the World Cup of student software competition. All of Nigeria is wishing for Team Indwell's success at the finals in Poland," he said.

Commending the winners, Spann expressed hope that if the team put in the same level of seriousness as they did at the national finals, they will set a new record as the first black nation to win the cup.

He encouraged other participants to put in more effort to ensure success at next year's event.

"The competition invited students in tertiary institutions in the country to apply their imagination, their passion, and their creativity to develop technologies that can make a difference in the world. This year's theme aligns with the Millenium Development Goals which include ending poverty, achieving universal education and gender equality. It also focuses on ensuring maternal and child health, combating HIV/AIDS, achieving environmental sustainability and growing global partnerships."

Unlike last year's edition which had 'health' as common theme, this year's shows a variety of ideas which cut across education, environmental sustainability, health and poverty alleviation.

Participants were each given 25mins to present their concept through demonstration, which was followed by a rigorous selection process that led to the announcement of the winners.

The Imagine Cup is the world's premier technology competition designed solely for students. Now in its eight year, the Imagine Cup has grown to be a global event, one that encourages young people to apply their imagination, their passion, and their creativity to develop technologies that can make a difference in the world. More than 145 students registered for this year's edition of the competition.