World: Ericsson Calling on Students and SMEs to Apply for Ericsson Application Awards 2013

Ericsson is calling for students and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who have an idea for a great app to enter the Ericsson Application Awards 2013.

The Ericsson Application Awards gives apps developers an opportunity to gain a foothold in the app industry while also earning recognition and making contacts within the telecom industry.

This year, there will be two categories: one for students and one for small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 100 employees.

The theme for this year’s competition is “Apps for City Life”, in support of Ericsson’s vision for a Networked Society in which – through a combination of mobility, broadband, the cloud, applications and services – anything and everything is connected.Participating teams also need to develop an application based on the Android platform that addresses the theme.

Last year’s winner in the company category was MedAfrica app, a mobile health-care app developed in Kenya by Shimba Technologies while the first prize in the student category was awarded to a painting and chatting app developed in China. A medico-social platform that provides access to medical information developed in Egypt won the Technology for Good prize.

Overall, 143 teams from more than 50 countries took part and a total of 242 ideas, videos and apps were submitted – twice as many as in the previous year.

This year, several prizes will be awarded in each category:

·         First place: EUR 25,000

·         Second place: EUR 10,000

·         Third place: EUR 5000

·         Fourth and fifth place: certificates

The prize money will be shared equally among the registered team members with the winning teams being contacted to ensure payment of prize. Winners will be announced on: www.ericssonapplicationawards.com

The deadline for submitting entries for Ericsson Application Awards 2013 is February 28, 2013 with evaluation of entries starting in March 1, 2013. Announcement of semi-finalists (top 5) in each category will be done on March 16, 2013 while the global evaluation of semi-finalist entries will be done on March 20, 2013 before the finalist teams ( 2 in each category) can be announced on April 25, 2013.

The submitted applications will be evaluated according to:
- Android application (Native or Web)
- Addresses the theme "Apps for the Networked Society"
- Working application prototype
- Innovative solution
- Business potential