Winner of Imagine Cup Armenia intends to launch global business with Voiceboard

The team of Lionsharp Solutions, the winner at Imagine Cup-Armenia 2013, the premier student technology competition, is going to enter the international market with its Voiceboard system in autumn, Gevorg Hovsepyan, engineer at Lionsharp Solutions, told ArmInfo at the April 12 finals of Imagine Cup Armenia.  

He explained that the Kinect-based Voiceboard allows communicating with the board by means of the voice and gestures, without any computer, mouse, projector, marker or chalk. In addition, the system saves the data earlier fixed on the board and allows returning to them later. 

The developer assured that Voiceboard is unique, it is patented and in order to develop the project in Sofia, Lionsharp Solutions Ltd was registered with the support of Eleven Startup Accelerator (Bulgaria).  Lionsharp Solutions includes not only Armenian, but also British and Italian specialists.

Hovsepyan stressed that the demo version of Voiceboard was demonstrated at the finals of Imagine Cup Armenia. The first copy of its software with English vocabulary will be presented in June, and it will be presented at the international market in autumn. The software package of Voiceboard, together with Kinect, will cost nearly $1000, and the license for Voiceboard only will cost $100.  After a market research, the version with the Armenian vocabulary will be developed.

"After developing the project, we will try to extend the business in several countries: first of all, we'll open a branch in Armenia, and then we'll ensure our presence in the markets of the USA, Russia and European countries. The Armenian branch will work with other groups of developers to involve them in other projects of Lionsharp Solutions as well", he said.

At the finals of Imagine Cup Armenia, the team of Revotech presented the smart home software, which allows using electricity, shutting down and switching on the electric appliances by means of mobile devices. MiXoft's application to Windows 8 is meant for simultaneous drawing and creation of music. The developers from Letsein created a device storing a big volume of information and having an Internet access. The developers from Megamind presented a system of exchange of messages with voice control functions, and the Up-and-coming engineers presented a trade system for mobile devices.

Microsoft Innovation Center, Microsoft RA, and the USAID-funded Enterprise Development and Market Competitiveness (EDMC) Project held the Armenian finals for Imagine Cup 2013 on April 12, 2013.  Eight teams made brief presentations of their projects and only one team was selected by the selection committee to represent Armenia at the Imagine Cup 2013 Worldwide Finals in Saint Petersburg, Russia in July 2013. U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern attended the award ceremony.

The Imagine Cup is an annual worldwide student technology competition focused around Microsoft technology and encouraging young people to apply their imagination, their passion, and their creativity to technology innovations that can make a difference in the world. The competition has been running for 11 years now. Each year the world finals are held in different countries. The Imagine Cup grew to more than 1 mln registered students from over 183 countries last year.

The USAID-funded Enterprise Development and Market Competitiveness (EDMC) Project seeks to improve Armenia's business environment and support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This five-year project aims to increase employment and income in Armenia by promoting growth in select value chains that have strong export potential - high technologies, pharmaceuticals/ biotechnologies, food processing, and hospitality.