Minister commends ITB team for inventing `butterfly` software design

Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar has expressed appreciation to the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)`s Antarmuka team for their success in Imagine Cup held in Paris, France, early July, and invited the team`s members to make a presentation at his office on Monday (July 28).

Minister Witoelar and the president director of PT Microsoft Indonesia, Tony Chen, are expected to be present at the team`s planned presentation on its software design called `Butterfly`.

The `Antarmuka` team, consisting of four ITB students: Arief Widhiyasa, Dimas Yusuf Danurwenda, Ella Madanella Dwi Mustika and Erga Ghaniya, has won an award for Rural Innovation category , for inventing `Butterfly` software design which can report environmental damage even in locations inaccessible by normal communication or transportation.

The Rural Innovation Achievement Award, sponsored by Microsoft`s Unlimited Potential Group, is designed to recognize the software solution that contributes toward a more sustainable environment and best help promote the social and economic growth of underserved populations in developing countries and regions whilst enabling their citizens better meet their basic needs.

The finalists competing for the Imagine Cup 2008`s Rural Innovation Award were from Colombia, Egypt, South Africa, Indonesia and India.

Founded by Microsoft in 2003, the Imagine Cup challenges students to imagine a world where their own ideas could shape solutions to real-world problems. The theme of the 2008 Imagine Cup being `Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment.`

The Imagine Cup 2008 World Finals comprised elements of 370 finalists, 124 teams, 61 countries and USD240,000 in prize money.

The software design category saw winners emerging from Australia with Slovakia and Hungary following close behind in second and third places respectively whilst the short film category was won by Korea, with Mexico taking second place and Canada coming in third.

Winners of other categories included Singapore for Embedded Development, Brazil for Game Development, Russia for "Project Hoshimi" Programming Battle, France for IT Challenge, Ukraine for Algorithm and USA for both Photography and Interface Design.

source: Antara | July 2008