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By Emma Elebeke
Leading provider of telecommunications equipment and services, Ericsson has announced entry for an application award tagged The Ericsson Application Awards.
The award, which is in the fifth consecutive year since inception allows students and small- and medium-sized enterprises from anywhere in the world to submit Android and iOS apps for screening.
This competition is expected to give developers, start-ups and anyone who has an idea for a great app, the opportunity to gain a foothold in the app industry, while also earning recognition and making contacts within the telecom industry.
According to the company, there will be two categories for this contest – one for students, and one for small- and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 100 employees.
The theme of the 2014 competition is Apps for Working Life, in support of Ericsson’s vision of a Networked Society in which – through a combination of mobility, broadband, the cloud, applications and services – anything and everything is connected.
The company said it is tinkering on how can apps help people in their daily working life both now and in the future and how do people can contribute to making the next generation of working life a context where people can better innovate, collaborate and balance life outside work.
The winner of the student category in 2013 was Portugal’s GreenSpark, which offered a solution based on energy efficiency with a truly global reach.
The UK’s TboxApps was the winner in the company category. Their solution was based on usage patterns in order to get access to instant messages and quickly get help.
For this year, the first prize is EUR 25,000, while second prize is EUR 10,000, and special recognition for innovation supporting Technology for Good. The third to 10th prize will get diplomas and honorary mentions.
In all, 192 teams took part in the 2013 competition, compared with 143 in 2012 from 52 countries.
