Today I was representing a colleague at the jury of the Dutch Imagine Cup semi finals, that consisted of people from Microsoft, Achmea, Delft University and Avanade. We had great fun. Last year I was coaching team Celsus of the University of Utrecht that ended up second in the national finals. Every time I see these students work on latest Microsoft technologies and the assignments I am amazed by the creativity. From all kinds of footprints, dashboards, XNA and board games, these guys had all kinds of great ideas. Obviously some polishing is still needed: only a few teams were actually balanced in terms of technology, business/marketing, realism, presentation, etc. Sustainability is a serious subject and it was good to see the nine teams had invested serious time.

Last year's national winners and international semi finalists from Delft University were sharing their experience too, that created a cross-language playing applications including international memory and a chat module with icons as a form of sign language.

Obviously we are very much looking forward to the national finals, which will be at 28 may. Hopefully the teams will have more surprises in store.