Prize-Winning Amounts Announced in $10 Million Powerful Answers Award

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The three $1 million winners of the first Verizon Powerful Answers Award were revealed today by Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The prize amounts for the other 12 winners, who each took home between $850,000 and $285,000, were also announced.

TinyTap, based in Israel and the top prize winner in the education category, is simplifying app development and creating the world's first user-generated content (UGC) educational app store. Smart Vision Labs, of New York City, the top prize winner in the healthcare category, is creating a portable vision examination device that, with a single snapshot, measures refractive errors of the eye and generates prescriptions, all without patient interaction. Mosaic of Oakland, Calif., the top prize winner in the sustainability category, is creating an online platform for individuals to invest in clean energy projects.

"The winners of the Powerful Answers Award show what happens when the passion of technology entrepreneurs meets the power of our mobile and broadband networks," said McAdam. "We are so inspired by these visionary people and their life-changing innovations. We can't wait to see what they do next."

McAdam also announced that the company will continue the Powerful Answers Award program in 2014.

The winners are: 

Education Winners  

• TinyTap - $1 million – a growing social platform where children, parents, schools and special needs teachers can easily create and share educational games that can be tailored to suit a child's unique learning needs.
• Zapatalism/LavaMind - $850,000 – a financial literacy app from LavaMind that specializes in creating business simulation games.
• BridgingApps/Easter Seals Greater Houston - $700,000 – an initiative that provides access to the mobile technology and applications needed to enable children with special needs to communicate for the first time, participate in the classroom and exceed educational goals.
• WebTeam Corporation - $500,000 – a solution that uses mobile and touch-screen computing to create new products and autism intervention services for the education and healthcare industries.
• WomenLEAD, Inc. - $285,000 – an online educational platform designed to accelerate women's advancement as leaders using social networking, online training and mentorships through an online "Personal Advisory Board" platform.

Healthcare Winners

• Smart Vision Labs - $1 million – a portable vision examination device that, with a single snapshot, measures refractive errors of the eye and generates prescriptions – all without patient interaction. The pocket-sized and low cost Smart Aberrometer uses a smartphone's flashlight and camera, combined with an add-on microlens array, to improve the way people get their vision evaluated.
• Seratis - $850,000 – a patient-centric mobile platform that allows doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers to communicate more easily and request and share patient-specific care data.
• Freenome - $700,000 – an innovative and cost-effective solution for monitoring patients and populations over time to better detect disease.
• Solar Ear - $500,000 – a hearing screening program for those in developing countries where there is limited access to hearing testing, hearing aids and hearing-care facilities.
• Factor 14 - $285,000 – a fully integrated warfarin management solution that gives patients and healthcare providers the ability to efficiently and accurately make warfarin dosage adjustments, helping to produce improved patient outcomes and substantial savings to insurers.

Sustainability Winners

• Mosaic - $1 million – an online platform for individuals to invest in clean energy projects.
• Good360 - $850,000 – an e-commerce and crowd-funding technology that assists nonprofits working in disaster areas with submitting product needs and enables donors to fulfill these critical needs.
• Bandwagon - $700,000 – a real-time taxi-sharing software and mobile app.
• Smartster/BigBelly Solar – $500,000 – a sensor technology for monitoring waste management that uses wireless connectivity to remotely monitor dumpster fullness and collection activity.
• Semios - $285,000 – an automated pest management system that integrates pheromone dispensers with camera-enabled pest traps, all connected wirelessly across fields and centrally managed from any online device.

When Verizon announced its Powerful Answers Award contest nearly a year ago, the company challenged innovators, developers and entrepreneurs to create ideas that would leverage Verizon's cloud, broadband and wireless networks to deliver great solutions and social good. In addition to the cash, the winners are connected to a wide variety of network, business development and marketing experts across Verizon to explore ongoing collaborations.

About Verizon Wireless 
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's largest and most reliable 4G LTE and 3G networks. The company serves 101.2 million retail customers, including 95.2 million retail postpaid customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with nearly 72,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. For the latest news and updates about Verizon Wireless, visit our News Center at http://www.verizonwireless.com/news or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/VZWnews.

SOURCE Verizon