Andrey Terekhov, Academic Programs Lead, Microsoft Central and Eastern Europe

Q: Andrey, please introduce yourself and let us know about your role at Microsoft and your involvement on the Imagine Cup.
A: Hi. I’m Andrey Terekhov. I work at Microsoft Central & Eastern European Headquarters. I work in the Developer and Platform Evangelism [DPE] group, and with universities and students.

Q: Please, can you describe the Imagine Cup competition and why is it so important to the Central and Eastern European region?
A: Imagine Cup is the premier world technology competition for students. It’s an annual competition run by Microsoft, which allows students to showcase their technology skills, knowledge and creativity. Why is it important for Central and Eastern Europe? Traditionally our students are very, very competitive. They want to learn and they want to showcase the skills that they have learnt in the process.

Q: Why is it so important to students across the world to participate in the Imagine Cup? What do they hope to achieve?
A: The most important thing for students is obviously learning about new technologies. Imagine Cup is a great competition because it allows them to apply and use this new knowledge. They are also getting the opportunity to achieve something outside of the curriculum. Students get to build technologies with their own hands and they get to present their ideas in front of large audiences and in front of a judging panel made up of professors, people from the industry and the government. So they really get to shine on a very big stage. And of course the Imagine Cup is a great competition because it allows the students to connect with other students from around the world, establishing new connections that will help them in their life after university.

Q: How do the students from the Central and Eastern European region perform? Are there any success stories you would like to share with us?
A: Absolutely. Students from Eastern Europe are very competitive. They are driven by the competition; they want to do well achieve new heights. They are very successful at doing this. Traditionally, students from Eastern Europe win a lot of prizes at the worldwide finals. Polish students have previously won all three prizes in a row at the worldwide finals for the Algorithm category. There has been a victory for a Russian team in the biggest and most contested category, Software Design. There was also a Ukrainian student who won the Algorithm competition last year. And there have been many more winners; there is really quite a list of success stories. Typically students from Eastern European win 10 to 15 prizes at the worldwide finals. This proves they really do like to compete and they are really good at it.

Q: Can you tell me a little bit more about the process, how do finalists actually get there?
A: Sure. In the Software Design category, the worldwide finalists have been the successful winners of their national competitions. At the start of the competition all students are set the same project, with the idea that they need to build their individual software solution to it. Then they submit it to the local competition and compete with the students in their own countries. Or maybe even within their region, if it is a large country. Gradually they advance through the competition and it concludes in the worldwide finals. In other categories of the Imagine Cup, which are called online categories, the competition is organized as one big online competition for students from all over the world to enter and compete against each other, regardless of where they might live. The top performers of the categories are selected to go to the worldwide finals, regardless of which country they are competing for. That means that there could be multiple teams from one country going forward to the final or none at all from that country.

Q: How many students participate worldwide in the competition and then how many of those actually make it to the finals?
A: It is a very tough competition. This year we had more than 300,000 students registering for the Imagine Cup and I would say that about 500 of them make it to the worldwide finals. The selection is very tough. It’s very difficult to make it to the top. And then, when they get to the finals, there are several more rounds, e.g. in the Software Design category it will be narrowed down from 60/70 teams that start the competition to the top 12. Finally only the top 6 are selected. These 6 teams present on a big stage in front of thousands of people and the three winners are selected.

Q: Could you tell us a little bit about what we can expect to see or what will happen at the Imagine Cup 2009 finals in Cairo? And where have other Imagine Cup competitions been held previously?
A: The Imagine Cup has been held in many different countries. It is in its seventh year and has taken place in all the various countries around the world. I think the first one was in Barcelona, it has been held in Brazil, it has also taken place in Japan, South Korea, India, and Paris, France. This year it will be in Egypt. So it’s very diverse and it’s always very exciting for the students to go to the worldwide finals, because they get to experience a new culture. This year the finals will take place in Cairo, and Egypt is famous for its history and culture. There are a lot of things to see in Egypt, so I’m quite sure it promises to be a great event. If I’m not mistaken, one of the competitions will actually be held directly at the Pyramids. So that will be a huge and exciting.

Q: Could you tell us how many students will be attending or how many students you expect to be attending from Central and Eastern Europe?
A: This year we have had 18,000 students from Eastern European countries registering for the Imagine Cup and it’s hard to tell how many of them will make it to the worldwide finals. Usually it’s a good percentage in terms of the worldwide population. I mean we are not a particularly big region but we really shine at the Imagine Cup. Two years ago, for example, 25 % of all students at the worldwide finals were from Central Eastern European countries. It’s really a great testament to their skills, knowledge and to their creativity.

Q: How does Microsoft help students in Central and Eastern Europe to translate their know-how and success and creativity into business-ready solutions to bridge the academic and business worlds and to encourage and foster entrepreneurship?
A: That’s one of the main goals of the Imagine Cup; to encourage entrepreneurship and to allow students to create new businesses out of their solutions. There are a lot of success stories from students, who participated in the Imagine Cup and have gone on to set up their own companies. Actually, the very first winner of the Imagine Cup in the US set up his own company and is now a successful entrepreneur, the company having grown quite big in the US market. There is also the Russian team who won the 2005 Imagine Cup and is currently working on their start-up. There are another two Greek teams, who didn’t win at the Imagine Cup but nevertheless have gone on to set up their own successful company. They managed to secure funding from the Greek government and from a leading Greek Telekom operator. So each of them have been very successful in their own right. It really shows the main idea behind the Imagine Cup is to foster creativity and to make sure that we allow students to realize their full potential. In the end it doesn’t really matter if they win the Imagine Cup or not, we want them to succeed in their life after the Imagine Cup. There are many programs that Microsoft runs to support entrepreneurship. One of the most interesting programs is BizSpark, which provides Microsoft software to new start-ups. We really want to promote the startup of as many new software companies as we can and hope the IT market will prosper as a result.

Q: The Imagine Cup 2010 finals will take place in Poland; in fact your CEO Steve Ballmer recently announced this when he visited Warsaw a few weeks ago. How important is it to get the finals to the Central and Eastern European region?
A: For us it is very important. It was a long term goal of ours. We have been trying to get the Imagine Cup to Eastern Europe for quite a few years. There is a lot of competition within Microsoft to get the Imagine Cup worldwide finals to your country. Just as with the Olympics or the worldwide Football Championships the countries have to bid, with each country looking to prove they are the best to hold the event. This year Poland won and the 2010 finals will take place here. It’s quite an achievement and a great opportunity to showcase the progress Poland has made. It’s one of the first big steps for Poland as a country. They will be hosting the Imagine Cup in 2010, holding their new presidency elections in 2011, and finally co-hosting the 2012 European Football Championships with the Ukraine. We see this as a very important chance to not only showcase Poland but the whole of Central and Eastern Europe. We will be proving that Eastern Europe is an example of a budding county within the European Union. We are really looking forward to that.

Q: From what you say it seems like it is a pretty major event, which requires a lot of work and there will literally be thousands of people attending. Is this only down to Microsoft or do you partner with other companies or government authorities and institutions to make it happen?
A: It’s usually not just Microsoft. We partner with governments, with other companies, with local sponsors, and with universities and students. There are a lot of people involved in making it happen. It’s really a huge project. It’s never just a Microsoft project, it’s a country project.

Q: In times of economic downturn, what role can competitions like the Imagine Cup play?
A: First of all, the most important thing about economic downturn is that it is one of the best times to start a new company. Imagine Cup is all about fostering entrepreneurship. We believe it will be new startup companies that can get us out of the existing crisis. We really need people to not be afraid, to bet and bank on their ideas, to bring new value into the market. That’s what the Imagine Cup helps to build, that confidence, that knowledge, that entrepreneurship, that’s what the Imagine Cup is about.

Q: Do you want to send a final message to all the competitors attending Cairo this year?
A: I know that it is a very tough competition and there will be only a few winners, but for me it’s like the Olympics. Everybody who has got to the worldwide finals is already a winner, having survived the competition in their own country or worldwide. We really believe that they will be the IT leaders of tomorrow; they will be Bill Gates in 10 years from now.