The team members - Ayson Baxter, Conroy Smith, Imran Allie, and Damion Mitchell, all undergraduates of NCU are this year's regional winners (in the software design category) of the Microsoft Imagine Cup Competition.

They worked assiduously to develop CADI, which is an acronym for Computer Aided Distance Instruction, a software designed to provide a centralised learning environment.

At present, distance education is made possible through the use of satellite communication. CADI does translations, using up the top 12 primary languages, and it supports distance education from any site at any location, providing there is steady Internet access.

Joseph Mckinson, Microsoft country manager for Jamaica, lauded the achievement of the youths.

Software changing the world

"What is changing the world now is software more than hardware," he said, pointing to the fact that the young inventors had taken on a project right in line with the movements of technology.

The four youths, who will be leaving for Korea on Friday, will be graduating from NCU in a few weeks.

Noting that they will be faced with competition in Korea, Imran said "we have a good application, we just need to present it well."

The youngsters are expected to compete in a field of more than 50 competitors and are to be judged by a panel of four judges in a first round where nine teams will make up a group.

The top two teams from that group go on to the next round, where one group of 12 will make their presentations.

If the young inventors get past that stage they will make their way to the final where they will have - for the first time in the competition - to compete on an open floor with the public invited to scrutinise their developments.

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