By 2020, Poland may arise as to the invention of Skype – Media2.pl

The potential of young Poles in the field of information and communication technologies is very highly rated. Experts estimate that by 2020, on the Vistula may arise innovative project as Skype. The key is that advanced knowledge of new technologies them turn into real products and services that successfully will sell on the market.

– The level of education and technological knowledge Polish students it is at a very high level. We see this for years. Polish students are winning a lot of different contests technology, the Imagine Cup, the largest technology competition in the world, stood on the podium – emphasizes in an interview with the agency Newseria Business Rafał Albin, director of new technologies in the Polish branch of Microsoft, which organizes the Imagine Cup. – 2020 in Poland should create a second Skype. It can lead us to the intellectual and scientific students and young people – adds.

As stated, the most important is that technological know-how to use in a very specific way – to solve problems, to entertainment or education. Rafal Albin notes that require a lot of support in the development of a given technology. Starting from a very early stage, when you need a verification concept and evaluation for its chances of market success, ending with the support of the business and financial.

They have to be achieved by initiatives such as the Imagine Cup, which is the technological world championship students who present themselves with their innovative ideas.

– On the one hand, they allow us to create a global brand and the company, which will come from Polish. It is, however, also is to translate this knowledge into real companies that locally in Poland create their own products and sell them – says Rafał Albin. – This is quite a complex process, but supports us in this many partners. The biggest challenge facing the students to believe in their knowledge, in your idea and consistent hard work to develop it over the years with the support of investment funds, which are increasingly interested in this type of project – he added.

This year, the fourteenth edition of the competition were chosen 15 Polish projects in three categories: innovation, games and social projects. Three of them will represent Poland during the world finals of the Imagine Cup 2016 in Seattle. The winners of each category will receive 50 thousand. dollars.

– The most beautiful in this competition is that there is no limit to the ideas that can be implemented. Young people constantly surprise us. There are projects that can have a significant impact on improving the quality of life, or ideas very social. An example would be the Face Controller, which affected the improvement of the quality of life of people with disabilities [allowing them to control the computer using head movements, facial expressions and voice - ed.] Or Smart Mirrors, which is in a phase of deep commercialization and that [through the phone, special application and design of mirrors - ed.] is to improve driving safety motorcyclists – lists Albin.

Another example is last year’s finalist, or design Photon, educational robot that teaches kids programming and logical thinking through play. Next month Photon starts with the action crowdfundingową (social financing ed.) On the platform Kickstarter. Then in the plans is the entrance to schools and distribution in Poland and abroad.

– Imagine Cup it was the beginning of our adventure with the business. He showed us in which direction we should think and how to develop our business. By participating in the competition won business accelerator and financing – says Marcin Joka, managing director of Photon Entertainment.

The highly evaluated the potential of young Poles in the ICT industry makes national start-ups and projects interested in becoming more investment funds, also abroad. Some of them already supports advanced projects and their implementation on the market. But there are also those investors who finance the early stages of the development of the technology. One of them is the Zernike – Meta Ventures, which manages eight venture capital funds. Imagine Cup helps them find prospective projects.

– Microsoft has built an interesting ecosystem in cooperation with dotConnect that well prepares these projects. Our fund looks at several hundred projects per year, but they are not always well prepared to invest the fund – admits Jacek Blonski, managing partner Zernike – Meta Ventures, a partner of Imagine Cup, which manages eight venture capital funds. – We have three transactions that have financed exactly the path that Microsoft and accelerator dotConnect prepared these projects, so that they were ready to invest the fund.

Among this year’s 15 best projects include, among others 3D mouse, computer game, which is fun, teaches players to create the game, a system that will warn drivers about the dangers on the road, applications for monitoring the health of diabetics, vision system, which will facilitate the functioning of the blind and a system for the diagnosis of sleep.

– Even if the project does not turn into a business, it would participate in the competition it has real impact on his career. After such a competition chances for interesting practice or even a job. The employer sees that the student is involved in something that makes sense – emphasizes Marcin Joka.

The global finals will be held in July 2016, in Seattle.