Embracing Open Innovation, ALCATEL ONETOUCH Announces Their Innovation Accelerator For North America

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- CES -- ALCATEL ONETOUCH today announced the North American expansion of its accelerator program – originally launched in Europe in early 2014 – in partnership with PRIME to be located in San Francisco.  This expansion is driven by the company's entrepreneurial spirit and goal to embrace "Open Innovation" to help drive greater access of smart technology and innovation for a global mass market.

"Our company is driven by ground up innovation, and our accelerator program will allow us to embrace open innovation to identify those next great ideas to help bring greater connectivity and engagement to the masses," Steve Cistulli, Senior Vice President of North America for ALCATEL ONETOUCH. "We've successfully proven this concept in Europe with our accelerator program launched early last year, and now thanks to our partnership with PRIME, we look forward to unlocking new opportunities to partner with innovative startups that want to bring new technology to a global market."

For participating developers and startups, they'll have a unique go-to-market opportunity with ALCATEL ONETOUCH, backed by TCL Communication, one of the world's largest and fastest growing mobile device manufacturers. This opportunity will unlock access to mobile operators worldwide, as well as provide access to ALCATEL ONETOUCH's resources, including R&D, testing, engineering and executives. Participants will also have the chance to scale globally, via ALCATEL ONETOUCH's worldwide network of suppliers, customers and partners.

The key component of the ALCATEL ONETOUCH Innovation Accelerator is the open and flexible environment for collaboration. By expanding this program to North America, ALCATEL ONETOUCH is looking for real and sustainable relationships, giving participating developers and startups the opportunity to freely shape the look and feel of this engagement.

"We're very excited to partner with ALCATEL ONETOUCH in expanding this innovation program from Europe to North America," said Patrick Consorti, Open Innovation Director at PRIME San Francisco. "Bringing greater access to innovation and technology is at the heart of PRIME's mission, which is why we align so perfectly with ALCATEL ONETOUCH and their philosophy of bringing affordable smart technology to a global mass market."

2015 AT&T DEVELOPER SUMMIT HACKATHON
As part of the lead into the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, ALCATEL ONETOUCH is sponsoring a hackathon challenge at the AT&T Developer Summit being held January 3-5 at Palms Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The challenge is focused on bridging the technology gap in education, bringing greater connectivity and usability of tablets in the classroom. You can find out more information on the Hackathon and ALCATEL ONETOUCH challenge here: https://devsummit.att.com/hackathon.

Additionally, ALCATEL ONETOUCH is also running a more expansive Challenge aimed at identifying the inaugural class of developers and startups to join their Innovation Accelerator in San Francisco. With this program, ALCATEL ONETOUCH aims to create valuable partnerships and innovate with developers and startups active in creating new hardware, mobile application and connected device solutions. Participants should already be past the proof of concept stage, with an innovative product or service ready to be scaled and brought to a global mass market. Challenge applications are being accepted now through January 28, 2015.

For more information about the ALCATEL ONETOUCH Innovation Accelerator, or to take part in the innovation challenge, visit www.ALCATELONETOUCHAccelerator.com.

About ALCATEL ONETOUCH
ALCATEL ONETOUCH is simple, unexpected, down to earth, irreverent and colorful. We believe that what makes technology smart is what you can do with it rather than what it can do.

ALCATEL ONETOUCH is a brand within TCL Communication, an international multicultural company which designs, develops, and markets globally a growing range of mobile and Internet devices. TCL Communication is a public company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (2618.HK) and part of TCL Corporation one of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world.

ALCATEL ONETOUCH is a SMART MOVE.

For more information, please visit http://www.alcatelonetouch.com/usa/.

About PRIME

PRIME, with offices in San Francisco and Boston, is a transatlantic innovation platform offering services and programs fostering technology partnerships with institutes of research, R&D department of large corporations, connecting corporations with innovative startups. PRIME is the US subsidiary of the Paris Region Entreprises, the economic development agency of Paris Region.

PRIME has a sister company, the French Tech Hub, the largest growth accelerator for French high tech companies in the U.S.

For more information, please visit www.innovation-prime.com.

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SOURCE ALCATEL ONETOUCH

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