Microsoft announces Blueprint challenge winners, hands out cash

Microsoft’s 2014 Imagine Cup competition is in full swing and the company has recently announced the winners of the Blueprint challenge. The challenge, as a quick refresher, is for teams to create viable businesses that are reviewed by a panel of judges who will select the winning business plans and then award them $3000 to help spur the idea from concept into reality.

The competition was new this year and that means that the creative limits had no bounds.  The challenge was broken up into three categories; World Citizenship, Games, and Innovation. Each category came with a $3000 prize for first place that results in $9000 being handed out to the winners of this completion.

In the Citizenship category, team Life Up took the top prize for a Kinect-based game that helps autistic children learn math, motor and social skills. The project is currently being prototyped and is in the process of being refined through field trials.