Latin America

Projects have been developed by students of the University of Castilla la Mancha and the Mondragon, respectively. WaterSense is aimed at getting water everywhere. Smart-Light, towards an efficient lighting system. Two teams of Spanish computer science students were selected to compete in the finals of Imagine Cup, a contest organised by Microsoft to reward the talents of the future, the company reported this week. Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems facing is the premise of this competition which, inspired by the Millennium development goals, encourages young people to find solutions to real problems.

In its ninth edition, whose final will take place from 8 to 13 July in New York, two Spanish teams, the University of Castilla la Mancha and the Mondragon, will compete, respectively with a project to send water everywhere and an efficient lighting system. WaterSense is the project of La Mancha students, who will compete in her third final of the Imagine Cup thanks to a software (with different applications for mobile, Internet and Facebook) that measured the potability of the water in the most needy areas, incorporates this information into a database, develops a plan with the most urgent needs of water and channelled solidarity aid. For its part, Mondragon Guipuzcoa University students have created Smart-Light, which proposes the development of a management system of urban lighting that allows, through sensors, recognize the needs of light and control the intensity of the lighting depending on these. Together with the Spanish teams, 17 proposals from countries in Latin America such as Brazil, Chile, Comlombia, and Mexico, and a total of 400 young people from around the world displayed their projects and will vie for awards in various categories totalling an amount of 215,000 dollars (152,000 euros). Source of the news: WaterSense and Smart-Light: two Spanish projects in a final of young talents from Microsoft