Microsoft Firefly Dinner Awards

22 November 2004

The Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Mosibudi Mangena, will deliver a keynote address at the Microsoft Firefly Awards with the aim of promoting a culture of innovation, research and development among young people. 41 Computer Science and Business Information systems departments representing 18 Of South Africa's tertiary institutions will showcase their work at the Microsoft's programming competition.

In second year, Project Firefly is a programming contest that that invites students to put programming models or applications developed through the course of the academic year forward for competition in 3 categories - namely, the development, solution and architecture levels.

The winners of Project Firefly will represent South Africa on the global stage in Microsoft's "Imagine Cup" competition. After advancing through the regional competitions, student teams will convene at the world championships in Tokyo, Japan, in June 2005 to present their entries to a panel of judges from the academia and the greater technology industry.

The further details of the occasion are as follows: