Nokia Reveals Winners of the Global Calling All Innovators and Finalists for the Growth Economy Venture Challenge Competitions
Winners and Finalists Chosen From Thousands of Developers Responding to the Challenges to Make a Difference in the World
LONDON, September 15, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today at the Nokia Developer Summit, the company is proud to announce the winners of the global Calling All Innovators contest and the finalists in the Growth Economy Venture Challenge - both with the common goal to create mobile applications, services or solutions intended to save the environment, lift spirits, improve productivity, raise the standard of living within growth economies, and educate and contribute to a healthy lifestyle. The winners and finalists will be acknowledged at the award ceremony, to be held on September 15 in the International Convention Centre (ICC) in London.
For its third consecutive year, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) challenged developers to demonstrate their creative and innovative side and design mobile applications, widgets, products, or services that make a difference in people's everyday lives and contribute to the economies of developing countries. In all, 1,500 developers worldwide responded to Nokia's challenges.
"We received a significant amount of interest on a global scale in both competitions. The developers on this year's list are at the nexus of change, using their unique insight to create a variety of well-thought out and innovative apps, services and solutions with the potential to enhance lives around the world. From improving early childhood literacy to sharing news to choosing eco-friendly activities, these apps deliver on the promise of mobile apps making an impact on the social economics of emerging markets," said Purnima Kochikar, Vice President, Forum Nokia and Developer Community. "Developers exceeded our expectations and we congratulate the winners and finalists selected for this year's awards."
Calling All Innovators - The Challenge
Calling All Innovators is an annual app development competition presenting developers with the task of creating apps that fall into four diverse categories: Life Improvement, Eco/Being Green, Productivity and Entertainment. This year, Forum Nokia has teamed up with Sesame Workshop, the folks responsible for the iconic children's TV show Sesame Street, to help support apps relevant to education in the Life Improvement category with the goal to persuade developers to create exciting apps, perhaps using Sesame Street characters, to teach early literacy through Nokia handsets to children located anywhere in the world.
Awards and Prizes
Several cash prizes will be offered in the Calling All Innovators contest. The top three submissions in each of the four categories will be rewarded in cash as follows:
- Grand Prize: USD 30,000
- First runner-up: USD 15,000
- Second runner-up: USD 5,000
- Third runner-up: USD 2,000
Furthermore, all application submissions - finalists or not - will be eligible to win special prizes spanning the four categories. The cash prizes are based on the type of technology that was used to create the app or other award criteria. Other valuable prizes will also be offered - to view the complete list of prizes and eligibility, please visit us at this website. Judges will carefully test the top 25 submitted apps using one of two remote device access services - either Remote Device Access from Forum Nokia, or Forum Nokia Virtual Developer Lab, powered by Device Anywhere. Each of the top 25 submissions are required to also submit their applications to publish to Ovi and be in the QA process for publishing to Nokia's Ovi Store. A panel of Nokia executives judges, will meticulously review all submitted applications and choose the finalists and winners based on the following criteria: quality/functionality, uniqueness, novelty value and innovativeness, usability/creativity, and commercial viability/market potential.
Growth Economy Venture Challenge
The Growth Economy Venture Challenge was inspired by Nokia's CEO. Developers were required to submit their best idea for a new mobile product or solution designed to improve the lives of people in the developing world. Judges look for one idea that has risen above the rest, an idea that changes the way people use Nokia mobile devices, demonstrates how mobility can radically improve the lives of people who reside in areas where the average income is under USD 5 / day, or an idea that recognizes a good business opportunity that also contributes to "doing good" in the world. This challenge is more than just about mobile apps - the winner and idea can be hardware, software or a new service opportunity.
Awards and Prizes
The winner of this contest is eligible to receive USD 1 million in venture capital investment, and support from Nokia to help turn the idea into a reality.
Judges for this challenge will select the winner based on the following criteria: the idea must include a clear mission statement and provide a product or service plan that raises the standard of living or enhances the lives of people in emerging markets, targets a market in a region with per capita income significantly lower than what is found in industrialized nations today (i.e. below USD 5 /day), and includes a viable business model with the likelihood of producing a strong return on investment (ROI) for the venture funding provided.
Applicants leapt to the challenges issued by Forum Nokia. The Calling All Innovators website, which hosts both contests, has received more than 845,000 visitors throughout the submission process for both competitions.
Following are the winners and runner-ups for the Calling All Innovators Global Contest:
Calling All Innovators Global Contest, by category
Eco/ Being Green
Winner - TripSketch Green Traveler (USA)
First Runner-up - RecycleME (Singapore)
Second Runner-up - Green Plaza (India)
Productivity
Winner - Blog Radio (USA)
First Runner-up - Ansel-A (USA)
Second Runner-up - PlanEasy2D (India)
Third Runner-up - WakeUp (Hungary)
Life Improvement
Winner - eLiteracy (South Africa)
First Runner-up - Car Black Box (Romania)
Second Runner-up - Mobile Baby Care (China)
Third Runner-up - Medica (Egypt)
Entertainment
Winner - Comics Creator (India)
First Runner-up - Morpho QuickPanorma PRO (Japan/USA)
Second Runner-up - Toudou (China)
Third Runner-up - Angry Birds (Finland)
Top 10 finalists in the Growth Economy Venture Challenge, listed in alphabetical order
- Bionic Power - The Portable Power Solution (Canada)
- eVOTZ (United States)
- FloCash Payment Network (United Kingdom)
- IDIFIED (United States)
- m-Employment platform using SMS (Pakistan)
- mmatcher - your mobile, your marketplace (Slovenia)
- Mobile Distributor Solution (Kenya)
- Mobile JobHunt (China)
- Remote Diagnostics Kit (India)
- Transclick for Globalization of m-commerce (United States)
More information about Forum Nokia's Calling All Innovators and Growth Economy Venture Challenge, including video demonstrations of the applications, can be found online at http://www.callingallinnovators.com.
Note to photo editors Stephen Elop, Nokia's incoming CEO, closes Nokia World 2010, where the world's leading mobile phone company introduced a new family of Symbian smartphones and improved developer tools. Photos will be available here: http://www.nokia.com/press/media_resources/photos/events/nokia-world-2010?cat egory=nw_2010_stephen_elop
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About Forum Nokia
Nokia's global developer program, Forum Nokia connects developers to tools, technical information, support, and distribution channels they can use to build and market applications around the globe. From offices in the U.S., Europe, India, Japan, China, and Singapore, Forum Nokia provides technical business development to support developers and operators to assist them in achieving their goal of successfully launching applications and services to consumers and enterprises. More information is available at http://www.forumnokia.com.
About Nokia
At Nokia, we are committed to connecting people. We combine advanced technology with personalized services that enable people to stay close to what matters to them. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia device - from mobile phones to advanced smartphones and high-performance mobile computers. Today, Nokia is integrating its devices with innovative services through Ovi (http://www.ovi.com), including music, maps, apps, email and more. Nokia's NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital mapping and navigation services, while Nokia Siemens Networks provides equipment, services and solutions for communications networks globally.
SOURCE Nokia Corporation
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