Ericsson’s global application competition supports local innovation in the UAE

As the deadline for the Ericsson Application Awards looms, Ericsson has announced that it has received a significant number of entries for the global competition from the Middle East and Africa, where the competition has been launched for the first time.

The Ericsson Application Awards is a global competition that gives teams and individuals in the UAE the opportunity to gain a foothold in the app industry, while also earning recognition and making contacts within the telecom industry. Ericsson first announced that the global competition would be open to entries from the region this year in October 2012.

“Ericsson firmly believes in technology’s ability to make a difference in our world,” said Anders Lindblad, President of Ericsson Middle East Region. “We hope that by combining technology with the innovation of people in the UAE and around the globe, we’ll be that much closer to achieving a truly Networked Society.”

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. The competition is also divided into two categories; one for students and one for small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 100 employees.  

Teams interested in applying must develop an application based on the Android platform that addresses the theme. Last year’s winner in the company category was a mobile health-care app developed in Kenya. First prize in the student category was awarded to a painting and chatting app developed in China. Finally, a medico-social platform that provides access to medical information developed in Egypt won the Technology for Good prize. In all, 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.