ISLAMABAD: Microsoft and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) jointly organized the Virtual Imagine Cup 2022 closing ceremony yesterday, where the winners and runners-up were announced in Pakistan. During the event, The “Omega GIKI” team with their project “Mind Braille” from Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology (GIKI) Pakistan and the “Reliance Team” with their project “Health Care 360” from University of Peshawar (UET) were declared national winners of Imagine Cup2022 and each team received prize money of PKR150,000/- The “Roz team” from Forman Christian College was declared as “The EPIC Challenge Winners”. The EPIC challenge winners of Imagine Cup got the unique opportunity of qualifying directly for world finals with prize money of 1000$. The three winning teams will now be representing Pakistan at the international level by competing with world top 48 world finalist teams. Additionally, 14 more university teams from South, Center,Baluchistan and Sindh regions were declared Imagine cup regional winners and runners-up and won cash prizes. The event was joined virtually by Special Advisor to the Prime Minster on Youth Affairs, Mr. Usman Dar. He appreciated and congratulated the top 17 teams declared as Imagine cup regional and national winners during the virtual event. He also appreciated the efforts of Microsoft and HEC on successful execution of Imaginecup2022. He discussed the possibilities of integrating Microsoft imagine cup with Kamyab Jawan program to empower students across the country. While talking virtually at the occasion, Mr. Jibran Jamshad, Country Education Lead, Microsoft Pakistan said that “ the Imagine Cup 2022 ” remains the most popular initiative for Microsoft as it provides an opportunity to tech students, software developers and entrepreneurs to develop applications and technology-based solutions worth introducing in the market. “We at Microsoft strive to promote a culture of technological innovation and entrepreneurship across the globe. We believe that it is even more important for developing nations such as Pakistan. We have seen some excellent projects selected and recognized locally and now the best of best team from Pakistan will be competing in the world championship for a chance to win USD100,000, Azure grant, and a mentoring session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella”, Mr. Jibran added. The Vice Chancellors and representatives of the winning institutions and other universities also spoke of their participation in the competition. They were unanimous of the view that events such as Imagine Cup promote a spirit of hard work amongst students. The Imagine Cup provides the students with an opportunity to bring innovative ideas to life, gain new skills, avail the exclusive training, mentoring opportunities and great prizes. In her closing remarks on the occasion, the Executive Director HEC, Dr. Shaista Sohail added that “HEC and Microsoft are constantly endeavoring to introduce technological advances in the education sector and Imagine Cup is one of the key projects that they have worked together successfully. We believe that these activities not only encourage the students to think innovatively but to join hands with each other, stay motivated and contribute for the greater good of their country. She complimented all participants specially the winners for their innovative contribution” Microsoft has already entered into an education transformation agreement with HEC covering key higher educational institutions in Pakistan. Under this agreement, Microsoft organizes several capacity building programs and holds similar activities for the education stakeholders throughout Pakistan. The key objective remains empowering the education sector through technology and with the latest Microsoft products and services.