The beginning was somewhere in the autumn of 2005, when the theme for the Software Design competition of Imagine Cup 2006 was announce! “Imagine a World where technology enables us to live healthier lives”. Sounds somewhat awkward to imagine that technology (commonly misunderstood as the personal computer) could bring health in our lives. But soon (somewhere in December), a lot of people would start to think otherwise.

Many teams were already formed, many brainstorming sessions were completed, many great ideas for formed.
The first challenge through which these had to go was the local (university) phase of the Imagine Cup contest in Romania. This was due by March 15th, 2006. After this point, 18 teams qualified further to the online evaluation, done by some of the most competent and experienced IT professionals from our country (Mr. Ovidiu Pintea, Mr. Ciprian Jichich, Mr. Bogdan Musat and Mr. Horia Pintilie).

Out of the 18 teams, 10 qualified in the national phase of the contest. It was a hardcore, 3 day contest in which the teams gave the best of the best. The finals were held in Cluj-Napoca, with a 3 sided joint effort of Microsoft Romania (Todi Pruteanu), the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca and the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca.

The 10 teams qualified represented universities from: Bucharest, Iasi, Galati, Alba Iulia, Suceava and Cluj-Napoca.
From the agenda of the 3 exhausting days, it’s worth mentioning: a whole afternoon + evening + night of hardware and setup, during which the teams went through the most varied feelings of joy, anger and frustration. But everything ended well! The teams were ready for the next day, the first day of the actual contest. The second day of contest was the hands-on day, in which all teams presented their solution to the jury (30 minutes allotted) and to the mentors of the other teams.

This took about a whole day, a lot of questions were raised, but the important effect of the day was that everybody could properly comprehend the solutions of the other teams. The evening ended in a social event – a bowling evening (beverages and pizza for everybody!). We all had the opportunity to see old friends and to make new ones.

The third and last contest day was the public presentation day – the drum rolling day. Sorin, a 11th grade drum player, just returned from the percussion National Olympiad accompanied the whole contest and gave the required spice. All teams got another 20 minutes for their presentation, followed by an open Q&A session.

A whole day, ended with a tough judging, which placed the following 3 teams in the top:

1. 911UBB (UBB)
2. Global Health System (UPB)
3. Transcent (UBB)

The next 2 weeks that followed were some very intensive weeks for the 911UBB team, mentored by Simona Motogna: Vali, Mihai, Daniel and Ovidiu. Their hard work has brought them so far as to today’s competition (the Eastern European phase of the Software Design competition of the 2006 Imagine Cup contest).

At the time of my writing this blog, the order for the presentations was just drawn, and the Romanian team was selected to be the 3rd team to present out of 13 teams qualified in this round. It’s close to 1:00 am and the team is still up and hooked into tomorrow’s presentation.

After a tremendous 20 hours journey from Romania to Maribor, Slovenia, followed by a 1 hour rehearsal and by an extremely delicious dinner, everyone dreams just of rest – a well deserved one, with the thought of future victory in mind.