African startups are invited to apply for this year’s edition of the Nokia Open Innovation Challenge, which offers companies in the Internet of Things (IoT) space the chance to win acceleration and a share of EUR100,000 (US$112,000) in prize money.
Nokia said applications for the Open Innovation Challenge will remain open until August 15, with innovators, startups and academia from around the world able to participate.
Finalists will receive a technology boost by entering the Nokia innovation accelerator programme, while they will also have access to the internal and global market of Nokia and investment opportunities from Nokia Growth Partners (NGP). The top three teams will share the EUR100,000 prize money.
“Rapidly developing IoT technology is opening up multiple new business opportunities for operators and enterprises, spanning many industries – public safety, healthcare, connected mobility, smart cities and more,” Nokia said.
“Nokia’s vision is to expand the human possibilities of technology to improve people’s lives and help them thrive by enabling a programmable world where billions of people, things, sensors and devices are connected.”
The Nokia Open Innovation Challenge, then, is looking for futuristic technologies, the next big ideas and new business models in the IoT domain, specifically in the provinces of connected automotive, public safety, security, industry 4.0, digital health, utilities and smart cities.
NGP raised a new IoT fund of US$350 million from Nokia in February, with the fund serving to identify new opportunities to grow the ecosystem in IoT solutions.
