Recently the DevSta competition came to a close and saw 40 unique entries across a range of categories (games, mobile, gadgets, etc). I personally found it hard to "roll down" after going a hundred miles an hour to submit my entry, down to 0 again when the competition closed. I felt like I should still be doing something, that there were so many more modifications I could make to my entry.

Now a new competition emerges and it definately looks interesting! Its called: 'Dare To Dream Different' and it boasts a plethora of prizes valued at over $100,000!! The focus of the competition is not just about hacking something together; it seems to focus more on the business aspects and developing a real commercial product. And it focuses on the Micro Framework from Microsoft.

I think this is a great idea to get the creative juices flowing around what can be done with smart devices. The competition seems to focus on the idea and marketability first, then moves to the development phase. As a result the competition is quite long running and can be submitted in groups of 3 or less.

It will be really interesting to see what kind of commercial products emerge from this competition. No doubt the winners will attract the interest of hardware vendors around the world. I'll be watching this space keenly!

Dare To Dream Different Website