Greece awarded first place in Microsoft's Ineroperability Challenge (VIDEO)

 Greece was awarded with the first position at Microsoft's Imagine Cup 2011 Interoperability Challenge with their project Touring Machine! Their "Alaniarides" group was comprised of Athens University of Economics students Georgos Karakatsiotis and Vaggelis Pterneas. 

Students from all across the world have spent the last week in New York City showcasing projects that took months and, in some cases, years to finalize. Each project gave a unique solution to one of the toughest issues facing the world today in hopes that technology can help to create a better future. The Interoperability Challenge was about building technical bridges and blending out-of-the-box Microsoft technologies with other technologies to create applications that connect people, data, and diverse systems in new ways.

This year the students developed software to allow paraplegic individuals to use computers and devices that can fly over disaster areas to find survivors and alert rescue workers to their location. To sum it up, some 124 teams from 70 different countries competed in the finals.

The winners of the Interoperability Challenge were as follows:

1. First Place: Greece, alaniarides
2. Second Place: Brazil, Bells Team
3. Third Place: Poland, DemosceneSpirit