REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 4, 2012 — As part of the company’s unprecedented period of product launches, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) today announced that significant updates to three core Microsoft Dynamics business solutions are available in December, delivering new capabilities and value to help customers transform their businesses.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 is available to customers now and additional product refreshes will be available later this month, including Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 (planned for Dec. 19) and Microsoft Dynamics December 2012 CRM Service update for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online (beginning mid-December).

These product updates underscore Microsoft’s continued commitment to enable companies around the world to transform into Dynamic Businesses. In a rapidly changing world, companies need a new generation of business solutions that are quick to implement, easy to use and seamlessly interoperate with Microsoft platform technologies for maximum synergies.

“Our December product releases deliver significant value to customers through simple-to-use and easy-to-implement business solutions,,” said Kirill Tatarinov, president, Microsoft Business Solutions. “This wave of new Microsoft Dynamics’ capabilities, together with Microsoft’s innovative social, mobile, collaboration, productivity and analytics resources, inspires people to do their best work and transform their businesses.”

The market appears to have taken notice as the Microsoft Business Solutions organization, which develops and delivers Microsoft Dynamics products, continues to grow. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM business has experienced double digits for the past 33 quarters with its revenue growing 30 percent last quarter (year over year). Similarly, in the most recent fiscal year, Microsoft Dynamics AX saw an increase of more than 50 percent in license revenue in North America.*

Speed in Enterprise Implementation Marks Availability of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2

As the pace of doing business increases and more opportunities open up in emerging markets, organizations are asking for solutions that can be deployed quickly, empower their people to make more informed business decisions and help their businesses grow globally. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 is globally available and allows for multiple languages and legislations to be run from within a single instance. With significant advances across all core industry areas, the flexibility and agility is unprecedented — even for companies looking to use Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 in combination with legacy solutions and get the benefits of a modern, next-generation business solution here and now.

Harmonizing global operations is being done with great speed in enterprises such as Sematic Group, a global manufacturer of elevator components that is currently running operations in Italy, the U.K. and China on a single instance of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2. This provides centralized insights into the operations and a platform to find synergies between the locations. With the country localizations in one solution and centralized deployment, planned rollout to additional locations will be easier with an astounding average of one country per month for the next year.

“Having a common repository for customer, supplier and product data has driven initial efforts at standardizing common business processes across our international organization,” said Luca Caremoli, chief information officer at Sematic. “Now, with a single, common ERP, we are becoming one. Our people across the world are becoming a real part of the one Sematic.”

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 also introduces breakthrough business intelligence capabilities based on Microsoft SQL Server. Important information to all parts of a business is provided quickly, intuitively and in context of what the individual user is doing. This ease of use and speed is critically important for better decision-making in a business such as Lotus F1 Team, which recently implemented the new version of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2. The team chose Microsoft Dynamics AX to collect live, accurate information, make informed decisions, compete for funding, and — ultimately — build a fast car. This implementation will help improve manufacturing productivity, avoid wasted resources, deliver information quickly to remote employees and interoperate with its HR environment to manage the skill sets it needs for new processes.

“Microsoft Dynamics is key to our business transformation. On the one hand, it will enable us to ensure everyone on the team is focused on doing their job and not wasting time moving information from one system to another,” said Patrick Louis, CEO, Lotus F1 Team. “Second, it will help us more rapidly make changes to the car and how we make the car so we can bring performance-enhancing improvements to the track faster.”

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013: Quick-to-Implement, Easy-to-Use Business Solution for SMBs

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013, expected to be available Dec. 19, introduces significant new features and capabilities designed to help small and midsize businesses (SMBs) grow their businesses with powerful business solutions that are quick to implement and simple to use. This release introduces an innovative new Web client, more than 125 feature enhancements, streamlined management and rich interoperability with other Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft Office 365.

Key enhancement areas for the new release include the following:

• Choice in how the product is deployed, as well as how people access and use it. Customers can access Microsoft Dynamics GP through a rich client and an innovative new Web client so they can get to the information they need when they need it and on the device of their choice. Improved “hostability” features include a new hosting management console for cloud deployments to streamline deploying and managing Microsoft Dynamics GP in the cloud.

• Faster, lower-risk deployment with new RapidStart tools that can significantly reduce the time and effort required to configure Microsoft Dynamics GP for each customer’s specific needs.

• Improved productivity through enhanced ease of use throughout the product, as well as deeper interoperability with Microsoft Office, Office 365 and other Microsoft technologies.

One of the early adopters of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 is Western Precooling, a provider of cooling services to produce growers and shippers, enabling them to get fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables from the field to their customers. The company has been in business for 70 years and has more than 100 sites throughout the Western United States growing regions.

“With the advancement of the consumerization of IT in the workplace, users want to gain access to data much quicker to make timely, strategic changes in the business and keep an edge on their competitors,” said Brian Paine, director of IT at Western Precooling. “Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 is helping us improve customer invoicing, thus leading to better service and faster turnaround with our valued customer base while ensuring the highest level of customer service. In addition, the advances in business intelligence, reporting and user experience made in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 equip our people to do the best job possible, which helps put Western Precooling on a course to be more competitive and accomplish its business goals.”

Great User Experience in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Update

Delivering on the Microsoft Dynamics commitment to rapidly innovate, the CRM December 2012 service update will be available beginning mid-December with a global rollout that will last into January. The new service update re-imagines the way sales, customer service and marketing professionals work with CRM. Moving away from the traditional data-centric approach, this service update adds new experiences that simply and visually guide users through their business processes. In addition, the new service update brings customers deeper connection to Yammer and Skype, embedded Bing Maps, compatibility with the new Microsoft Office, and cross-browser support** enabling new levels of communications and collaboration for customers.

Customers such as Colliers International see the value of the usability features of the new service update and the simplicity of use, particularly the speed and ease of getting their people up and running on the new system.

“We are excited to take advantage of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM service update because it is so simple to use that all of our people will be able to embrace it,” said Veresh Sita, chief information officer, Colliers. “This new user experience is no longer a barrier but an enabler, allowing us to reap immediate benefits.”

A new Dynamic Business video demonstrates the plans for the revolutionary user design that is part of Microsoft Dynamics’ future vision for a new world of work.

Further Information

More information on the new capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/erp-ax-2012-r2.aspx. Details on Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 are available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/dynamics. More definitive information on the new capabilities in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM December 2012 service update is provided in the release preview guide, which can be downloaded at http://crm.dynamics.com/en-us/polaris.

About Microsoft Dynamics

At the heart of every successful business are the people who make things happen. Microsoft Dynamics designs modern business solutions that empower individuals with intuitive tools that allow them to do their best work. Our proactive, easy-to-use business applications adapt to the way people and systems work, enabling businesses to rapidly deploy and be forward-looking in an ever-changing world.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

* License revenue year over year as reported during Microsoft quarterly earnings.

* Cross-browser support including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome running on Windows-based PCs, and Apple Safari running on Macintosh desktop computers. In addition, there will be a Safari-based user experience on Apple iPad for sales users.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Dec. 4, 2012 — At the Social Innovation Summit today, Microsoft Corp. announced the winners of the second annual Microsoft Imagine Cup Grants program, a three-year, $3 million competitive grant program that provides students with funding and support to help transform their projects into social enterprises or nonprofits that will address a specific social issue. The Imagine Cup Grants program is part of the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative, which aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth during the next three years.

The grand prize grant of $100,000 was awarded to Team Graphmasters from Germany for its solution called nunav that reduces vehicle carbon emissions through an innovative navigation system. The second place grant of $75,000 went to Team StethoCloud from Australia, which developed a solution to diagnose childhood pneumonia. There were also grants of $50,000 to Team Vivid from Egypt, which built a mobile app to access medical records using the cloud; Team Cipher256 from Uganda for its mobile app and listening device to analyze fetal heart rates; and Team QuadSquad from Ukraine, which created a solution that transforms sign language into verbal communication. The teams used technologies including Windows 8, Windows Azure, Windows Phone, Bing Maps and more.

“The Imagine Cup Grants will help students evolve a great idea for addressing a societal issue into a real-world business,” said Dan’l Lewin, corporate vice president, Strategic and Emerging Business Development, Microsoft. “These students have developed incredible approaches that show great potential for positive local impact. We are excited to offer financial and other support to help them transform these ideas into businesses with real-world impact.”

The grant winners were among the finalists at the Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals, a global competition that invites students to develop a technology, create a business plan and gain a keen understanding of what they need to bring their concepts to market. The Imagine Cup Grants program takes the competition further, helping students turn their ideas into reality by creating a real business or nonprofit. As part of Microsoft YouthSpark, the Imagine Cup Grants program is one way Microsoft is helping young people pursue an education, find employment and foster entrepreneurship.

“The Imagine Cup was the catalyst for our team to create nunav,” said Christian Brüggemann, Team Graphmasters. “Through the Imagine Cup Grants, Microsoft is giving us the opportunity to expand our project and bring it to market. As mobile phone adoption becomes more prevalent around the world, it presents a perfect way for nunav to help fight traffic and carbon emissions.”

In addition to the cash awards, the grant packages include software, cloud computing services, solution provider support, premium Microsoft BizSpark account benefits and access to local resources such as Microsoft Innovation Centers. Microsoft will also connect grant recipients with its network of investors, nongovernmental organization partners and business partners and will work with the grant recipients to tailor individual support as needed depending on the progress each team has made so far with its project.

Imagine Cup Grants Award Winners

• Team Graphmasters, Germany. Christian Brüggemann, Sebastian Heise and Iulian Nitescu. Project description: nunav is a navigation system with the potential to reduce vehicle carbon emissions by preventing traffic congestion. The system proactively routes city traffic by calculating the best route for each car and communicating that information to each driver. Team video: http://bit.ly/RWjVN6

• Team StethoCloud, Australia. Hon Weng Chong, Andrew Lin, Mahsa Salehi and Karthik Rajah. Project description: StethoCloud is a cloud-powered, mobile-hybrid stethoscope for early detection of pneumonia. By connecting a custom stethoscope to a mobile phone, the user is able to transmit diagnostic information into a cloud service, reproducing the diagnostic capability of a trained medical doctor. Team video: http://bit.ly/PWCcKy

• Team Vivid, Egypt. Nour El-Dien Hussein, Muhammed Mousa El-Orabi and Fady Fawzy Rafla. Project description: Health Buzz is a cost-effective mobile-based solution that helps healthcare service providers access patients’ electronic medical records through a secure cloud-based storage system. It services patients and physicians through a phone, tablet or desktop computer. Team video: http://bit.ly/T4PJAt

• Team Cipher256, Uganda. Aaron Tushabe, Joshua Okello, Dr. Davis Musinguzi, Josiah Kavuma and Joseph Kaizzi. Project description: WinSenga is a mobile application that aids health workers as they assist expectant mothers. The algorithm analyzes fetal heart sounds to determine the fetal heart rate (beats per minute) and the age and position of the fetus and then records these readings to the cloud. Team video: http://bit.ly/Us89qS

• Team QuadSquad, Ukraine. Maxim Osika, Valeriy Yasakov, Anton Stepanov, Anton Posternikov and Dmytro Samoilenko. Project description: Enable Talk was created to give disabled individuals with limited communication abilities a better way to communicate. It transforms sign language into a form of verbal communication by creating a mobile device that continuously recognizes sign language phonemes. Team video: http://bit.ly/UIDx4E

This year, more than 40 Imagine Cup teams applied for the grants. A judging panel of industry experts with knowledge spanning technology, venture capitalism, software development, startup culture and the nonprofit sector ranked each team based on specific criteria, including project impact and viability and team quality and motivation. The judges included the following:

• Akhtar Badshah, senior director of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Microsoft

• Daniel Brusilovsky, founder and CEO, Teens in Tech Labs

• Tim Draper, founder and managing director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson

• Debra Dunn, faculty, Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford; board of directors, Skoll Foundation and B Lab

• Edward G. Happ, global chief information officer of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, chairman of NetHope

• Tadhg Kelly, game design consultant

• Zeev Klein, general partner, Landmark Ventures

• Dan’l Lewin, corporate vice president, Strategic and Emerging Business Development, Microsoft

• Rob Miles, lecturer, University of Hull Computer Science Department

• Jeff Raikes, CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

• Ann Winblad, managing director, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

About Microsoft YouthSpark

Microsoft YouthSpark is a global initiative that aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth in more than 100 countries during the next three years. This companywide initiative includes Citizenship and other company programs — both new and enhanced — that empower youth to imagine and realize their full potential by connecting them with greater opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship. Find out more at: http://www.microsoft.com/youthspark.

About Microsoft Imagine Cup

This year marks the 11th year of Imagine Cup, which will be celebrated at the worldwide finals in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 8–12, 2013. Students ages 16 and older are eligible to register and compete in Imagine Cup 2013 by visiting the Imagine Cup website at http://www.imaginecup.com. A full list of competitions and challenges are listed at http://imaginecup.com/main/compete. In the past decade, more than 1.65 million students from 190 countries have registered to compete for cash and other prizes.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 3, 2012 — Five teachers from the U.S. were celebrated Saturday night as five of the most innovative educators in the world, as part of Microsoft Corp.’s annual Global Forum Educator Awards. During the ceremony, held in the prestigious Prague Castle to mark the culmination of the 2012 Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum, Microsoft announced 21 winners, narrowed down from more than 250,000 teachers registered across national and regional forums throughout the year.

“We can’t educate tomorrow’s leaders with tools and practices from the past. We must continue to invest in the development of enhanced learning environments that lead to better outcomes,” said Anthony Salcito, vice president, Worldwide Education for Microsoft. “We are honored to recognize these amazing professionals for the work they do every day to enrich the educational experiences of children around the world.”

These are the winning U.S. educators:

1st Place: Collaboration

Pauline Roberts and Rick Joseph; Birmingham Covington School (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.)

Project: Doing Business in Birmingham

Doing Business in Birmingham aims to promote the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision-making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity. After learning about sustainability in business, students took to the streets of downtown Birmingham to assess the sustainability of businesses in their local community. Armed with informational flyers and brochures they had created, the students visited more than 90 establishments to interview and educate local business owners. Students used Microsoft Office, Photosynth, Publisher and MovieMaker among other technologies to complete the project.

2nd Place: Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning

Robin Lowell and Sherry Hahn; Washington State School for the Blind (Vancouver, Wash.)

Project: “LYNC”ing Distance Learning Math Classes to Blind and Visually Impaired Students

The Washington State School for the Blind developed an effective program built on Microsoft Lync that provides specialized mathematics instruction to blind and visually impaired students. The school’s teacher lives more than 100 miles away from the campus and uses videoconferencing and Lync to instruct her classes to any student with a Lync client and an Internet connection.

3rd Place: Educators’ Choice

Todd LaVogue; Roosevelt Community Middle School (West Palm Beach, Fla.)

Project: What’s Up Egypt?

Students created a TV show about ancient Egypt to gain a deeper understanding of life during that time. Students used Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer and video editing software to research and create a “TODAY”-style news program with news, weather, sports, cooking, lifestyle, history and music segments. Students compared and contrasted ancient Egypt with today’s society and in the end they had a better understanding of what it would have been like to have lived during that time.

“Having the opportunity to be here at the Microsoft Global Forum has been one of most meaningful experiences for both Pauline [Roberts] and me as teachers principally because we have the opportunity to interact with other practitioners from around the globe,” said Rick Joseph, first-place winner in the Collaboration category. “We as teachers believe our children learn in a global environment. When we can get together with teachers from around the world and see what they’re doing and see the ways in which they engage their students, it’s very energizing to us because it really enables us to be the best that we can be.”

“We have connected with teachers and schools from around the world that are amazingly innovative and so passionate. This is just the beginning of what we can do. There is so much more innovation and new ways of teaching, new ways of learning, that this is the tip of the iceberg,” said Robin Lowell, second-place winner in the Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning category. “We’ve gathered ideas to take home with us, which is going to improve us as teachers and improve our students’ education and life.”

“Teachers don’t work for recognition, but for our students. Still, to have our effort and impact recognized by Microsoft as one of the country’s best is an incredible feeling,” said Todd LaVogue, third-place winner in the Educators’ Choice category. “My intent is to give my students my very best, and the ideas I’ve gathered from other educators at the Partners in Learning Global Forum are helping me do just that. My students are starting to understand how special and important they are and that their success in adult life begins right now.”

Saturday night’s awards were presented to educators across six categories. All winners will be automatically included in the new Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Program, a one-year initiative created to recognize educators globally who are using technology to transform education. Educator Experts will become Microsoft’s partner in many of its education activities throughout the year, focused on ensuring learning outcomes and sharing of experiences with peers and policymakers on effective use of technology in education.

In return, members receive the inside track on the latest Microsoft thinking and technologies, as well as access to the latest and greatest software and products. In addition, Microsoft will ensure that this group is getting the professional and career development opportunities that will be long lasting and help them make a difference in their students’ lives.

Participants were judged by an international panel of education professionals through rigorous scoring. Through virtual classroom tours and onsite interviews by judges, these teachers demonstrated innovative teaching practices, giving their students critical 21st century skills, such as collaboration, critical thinking and social responsibility, by leveraging effective and engaging technology resources. Teachers were recognized across the following categories:

1. Extended Learning Beyond the Classroom

2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge Building and Critical Thinking

4. Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning

5. Educator as Innovator and Change Agent

6. Educators’ Choice

Saturday’s award ceremony was attended by more than 500 teachers, school leaders and education leaders, as well as government officials from more than 80 countries. The celebration capped off a week of education workshops and announcements, including an additional $250 million investment by Microsoft over the next five years in Partners in Learning and a new $75 million partnership between Microsoft and some of the largest and most impactful humanitarian organizations in the world to execute a program to help children and teachers gain first-time access to technology.

An example of this initiative begins today with a program entitled Spark a Child’s Digital Future http://www.worldvision.org/bethespark. This initiative is a collaborative effort uniting World Vision, British Council, Microsoft and Intel, linking African youth with over 1 million potential donors in the United States alone.

About Partners in Learning

Microsoft Partners in Learning is a 15-year, $750 million commitment by Microsoft to help education systems around the world. Since its inception in 2003, the Partners in Learning program has reached more than 210 million teachers and students in 119 countries. Partners in Learning helps educators and school leaders connect, collaborate, create and share so students can realize their greatest potential. The online Partners in Learning Network is one of the world’s largest global professional networks for educators, connecting millions of teachers and school leaders around the world in a community of professional development.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 3, 2012 — Five teachers from the U.S. were celebrated Saturday night as five of the most innovative educators in the world, as part of Microsoft Corp.’s annual Global Forum Educator Awards. During the ceremony, held in the prestigious Prague Castle to mark the culmination of the 2012 Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum, Microsoft announced 21 winners, narrowed down from more than 250,000 teachers registered across national and regional forums throughout the year.

“We can’t educate tomorrow’s leaders with tools and practices from the past. We must continue to invest in the development of enhanced learning environments that lead to better outcomes,” said Anthony Salcito, vice president, Worldwide Education for Microsoft. “We are honored to recognize these amazing professionals for the work they do every day to enrich the educational experiences of children around the world.”

These are the winning U.S. educators:

1st Place: Collaboration

Pauline Roberts and Rick Joseph; Birmingham Covington School (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.)

Project: Doing Business in Birmingham

Doing Business in Birmingham aims to promote the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision-making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity. After learning about sustainability in business, students took to the streets of downtown Birmingham to assess the sustainability of businesses in their local community. Armed with informational flyers and brochures they had created, the students visited more than 90 establishments to interview and educate local business owners. Students used Microsoft Office, Photosynth, Publisher and MovieMaker among other technologies to complete the project.

2nd Place: Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning

Robin Lowell and Sherry Hahn; Washington State School for the Blind (Vancouver, Wash.)

Project: “LYNC”ing Distance Learning Math Classes to Blind and Visually Impaired Students

The Washington State School for the Blind developed an effective program built on Microsoft Lync that provides specialized mathematics instruction to blind and visually impaired students. The school’s teacher lives more than 100 miles away from the campus and uses videoconferencing and Lync to instruct her classes to any student with a Lync client and an Internet connection.

3rd Place: Educators’ Choice

Todd LaVogue; Roosevelt Community Middle School (West Palm Beach, Fla.)

Project: What’s Up Egypt?

Students created a TV show about ancient Egypt to gain a deeper understanding of life during that time. Students used Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer and video editing software to research and create a “TODAY”-style news program with news, weather, sports, cooking, lifestyle, history and music segments. Students compared and contrasted ancient Egypt with today’s society and in the end they had a better understanding of what it would have been like to have lived during that time.

“Having the opportunity to be here at the Microsoft Global Forum has been one of most meaningful experiences for both Pauline [Roberts] and me as teachers principally because we have the opportunity to interact with other practitioners from around the globe,” said Rick Joseph, first-place winner in the Collaboration category. “We as teachers believe our children learn in a global environment. When we can get together with teachers from around the world and see what they’re doing and see the ways in which they engage their students, it’s very energizing to us because it really enables us to be the best that we can be.”

“We have connected with teachers and schools from around the world that are amazingly innovative and so passionate. This is just the beginning of what we can do. There is so much more innovation and new ways of teaching, new ways of learning, that this is the tip of the iceberg,” said Robin Lowell, second-place winner in the Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning category. “We’ve gathered ideas to take home with us, which is going to improve us as teachers and improve our students’ education and life.”

“Teachers don’t work for recognition, but for our students. Still, to have our effort and impact recognized by Microsoft as one of the country’s best is an incredible feeling,” said Todd LaVogue, third-place winner in the Educators’ Choice category. “My intent is to give my students my very best, and the ideas I’ve gathered from other educators at the Partners in Learning Global Forum are helping me do just that. My students are starting to understand how special and important they are and that their success in adult life begins right now.”

Saturday night’s awards were presented to educators across six categories. All winners will be automatically included in the new Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Program, a one-year initiative created to recognize educators globally who are using technology to transform education. Educator Experts will become Microsoft’s partner in many of its education activities throughout the year, focused on ensuring learning outcomes and sharing of experiences with peers and policymakers on effective use of technology in education.

In return, members receive the inside track on the latest Microsoft thinking and technologies, as well as access to the latest and greatest software and products. In addition, Microsoft will ensure that this group is getting the professional and career development opportunities that will be long lasting and help them make a difference in their students’ lives.

Participants were judged by an international panel of education professionals through rigorous scoring. Through virtual classroom tours and onsite interviews by judges, these teachers demonstrated innovative teaching practices, giving their students critical 21st century skills, such as collaboration, critical thinking and social responsibility, by leveraging effective and engaging technology resources. Teachers were recognized across the following categories:

1. Extended Learning Beyond the Classroom

2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge Building and Critical Thinking

4. Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning

5. Educator as Innovator and Change Agent

6. Educators’ Choice

Saturday’s award ceremony was attended by more than 500 teachers, school leaders and education leaders, as well as government officials from more than 80 countries. The celebration capped off a week of education workshops and announcements, including an additional $250 million investment by Microsoft over the next five years in Partners in Learning and a new $75 million partnership between Microsoft and some of the largest and most impactful humanitarian organizations in the world to execute a program to help children and teachers gain first-time access to technology.

An example of this initiative begins today with a program entitled Spark a Child’s Digital Future http://www.worldvision.org/bethespark. This initiative is a collaborative effort uniting World Vision, British Council, Microsoft and Intel, linking African youth with over 1 million potential donors in the United States alone.

About Partners in Learning

Microsoft Partners in Learning is a 15-year, $750 million commitment by Microsoft to help education systems around the world. Since its inception in 2003, the Partners in Learning program has reached more than 210 million teachers and students in 119 countries. Partners in Learning helps educators and school leaders connect, collaborate, create and share so students can realize their greatest potential. The online Partners in Learning Network is one of the world’s largest global professional networks for educators, connecting millions of teachers and school leaders around the world in a community of professional development.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

PRAGUE — Dec. 1, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. today marked the close of its Partners in Learning Global Forum 2012 by announcing an investment of up to US$75 million to bring digital access to youth and educators in developing nations. The commitment was sealed by signing memorandums of understanding with six global humanitarian organizations. Along with the US$250 million, five-year renewal of the flagship Microsoft Partners in Learning program, the company has further strengthened its commitment to bring holistic transformation of education systems around the world through digital access to youth and capacity building for educators.

The initiative is led by strategic alliances with World Vision Inc., the British Council, SOS Children’s Villages International, Catholic Relief Services, Plan Ltd. and the International Rescue Committee. It is aimed at helping ensure that teachers get the digital training they need and students gain critical skills vital to finding employment, starting their own businesses and contributing to their local communities’ economies.

These commitments are part of Microsoft YouthSpark, a companywide initiative to create opportunities for 300 million youth around the world, helping transform education and expand digital inclusion to empower youth to change their world.

“Today’s young people face an opportunity divide — a gap between those who have the access, skills and opportunities to be successful and those who do not,” said Anthony Salcito, vice president of Worldwide Education for Microsoft. “We firmly believe in the power of technology to help close this gap. But we can only achieve our ambitions with the help of these kinds of partnerships. Together, we can help bring digital access to youth and support to educators in developing countries worldwide.”

Reaching Underprivileged Youth in Africa

An example of this initiative — Spark a Child’s Digital Future http://www.worldvision.org/bethespark — will begin in Kenya, scaling across sub-Saharan Africa and beyond during the next five years.

Spark a Child’s Digital Future, which launches today, is a collaborative effort that unites World Vision, the British Council, Microsoft and Intel, and it links African youth with more than 1 million potential donors in the United States alone. World Vision, the world’s largest nongovernmental organization, will generate donations through its child sponsors. Microsoft will donate software and apply the experience it has gained through Partners in Learning. Together, Microsoft and Intel will offer information and communications technology expertise and training, while the British Council and World Vision bring on-the-ground expertise in education program execution and content development for teacher and school leader professional development, as well as measurement and evaluation.

“We recognize that once a child’s basic needs are met, digital skills development can be vital in securing economic growth,” said Rich Stearns, president, World Vision U.S. “This program is essential in helping children in developing countries succeed in a global world.”

2012 Global Forum Educator Awards

The announcement was made ahead of an award ceremony at the Global Forum in Prague, bringing together more than 500 of the most innovative teachers, school leaders, education leaders and government officials from 80 countries. Teachers who attend the Global Forum are regional finalists selected from more than 250,000 teachers registered across national and regional forums throughout the year.

Teacher projects were awarded across six categories:

Collaboration

• Winner: Pauline Roberts and Rick Joseph (United States), “Doing Business in Birmingham.” A Sciracy project promoting scientific literacy. Students developed informational brochures to educate business owners on sustainability.

• First Runner-Up: Chen Siyun (Singapore), “Impactful Online Service Learning.” The project led a group of Singapore and Indonesian students through a journey of collaboration to solve the issue of the lack of clean water.

• Second Runner-Up: Holger Fröhlich (Germany), “Creating Fairytale-Radioplays.” Using digital media, the students created a fairytale-radioplay building an audio visual experience.

Knowledge Building

• Winner: David Allan Young (Northern Ireland), “Infinity Architecture.” Students from the local primary school developed an architecture project to serve students with special needs. The project is now in early stages of full-scale modeling.

• First Runner-Up: Zamimah Binti Azaman (Malaysia), “The Journalist.” The students developed a simulator to assess content and skills learned in the classroom.

• Second Runner-Up: Youssr Chediac (Lebanon), “The Warak Warak Method.” This project is a teaching methodology that builds and enhances students’ subject knowledge and skills, increases engagement and keeps the momentum going beyond the classroom.

Beyond the Classroom

• Winner: Ghadeer Obiedat and Rania Obiedat (Jordan), “Glimmer of Hope.” These teachers aimed to equip students with the skills needed to innovate and be productive in life, with a project focusing on the early detection and screening of breast cancer.

• First Runner-Up: Devon Caldwell and Leah Obach (Canada), “Little Hands Big World.” This collaborative project links two classrooms of learners to form one community of change agents. These young learners from ages 4 to 7 are identifying, investigating and developing solutions to important issues affecting the planet.

• Second Runner-Up (joint): Margarida Telles da Cruz (Brazil), “Ecoweb.” This project challenges special needs students to develop sustainability activities. Using different technology, students collaborated with neighboring schools to focus on the reuse of different materials and how residents should take care of their local area.

• Second Runner-Up (joint): Katie Boothman (United Kingdom), “The H.I.T. Squad.” Students embraced new technologies to connect and engage communities and learners across generations. Primary schools and local residents have benefited from learning resources created by the Squad in their ongoing mission to share the past with the future.

Cutting-Edge Use of IT

• Winner: Nicki Maddams (United Kingdom), “Kodu in The Klassroom.” This project takes Kodu Game Lab and uses it to enhance learning. From aiding literacy for primary school children to focusing on programming with game design in secondary schools, the versatile and engaging software has been used to teach, learn and inspire.

• First Runner-Up: Robin Lowell and Sherry Hah (United States), “‘LYNC’ing Distance Learning Math Classes to Blind and Visually Impaired Students.” Using the audio/videoconferencing functionality in Microsoft Lync, the team created an unprecedented distance learning mathematics program tailored to the unique needs of blind and visually impaired students.

• Second Runner-Up: Alice Leung (Australia), “Playing. Designing. Learning. Using Games and Project-Based Learning to Develop Creative, Innovative and Independent Learners.” Combining commercial video games and games design with in-depth class projects, students form their own investigations to develop skills in higher order thinking, collaboration, problem solving and self-regulation.

Teaching a Change Agent

• Winner: Munazza Riaz Butt (Pakistan), “Aqua Crunch.” Teaching students to address water problems through technology.

• First Runner-Up: Ayodele Odeogbola (Nigeria), “Rescue Mission.” This project used a mixture of hardware and software to help tackle the challenges (such as examination malpractice, vandalism, bullying, drug abuse and truancy) currently being faced in Nigeria and other countries of the world.

• Second Runner-Up: Maria Loizou Raouna (Cyprus), “Online and Community-Based Research on Recycling Practices.” Using a wide range of technology, including Windows Internet Explorer and Skype, students collaborated on online research around waste minimization to inform new recycling programs in their own community and the development of shared “green” multimedia.

Educator’s Choice

• Winner: João Carlos Ramalheiro (Portugal), “Oratio Classroom.” This software concept for a future educational app was created by students for teachers, responding to the child’s creative mind and offering teachers the opportunity to improve music lessons, using a dynamic, content-rich and attractive application.

• First Runner-Up: Darko Taleski and Sofija Grabulovska (Macedonia), “Fun, Education, Stop-Motion Animation.” This project makes stop-motion animations for all school subjects in primary education, proving that stop-motion animation is adaptive to all school subjects, age and levels.

• Second Runner-Up: Todd LaVogue (United States), “What’s Up Egypt.” By combining what students like (television and music) with their curriculum, this project created a television news show and music video to help improve understanding of life in ancient Egypt.

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