[Brussels, Belgium, 5 February 2015] The best apps for smarter cities were selected at the final event of the InnoApps contest in Brussels yesterday. The winning teams of young app developers from Europe and China, chosen at a live pitching session following a two-day hackathon, receive cash prizes and mentoring to commercialise their app.
The competition, organised jointly by leading global ICT company Huawei and non-profit organisation European Young Innovators Forum (EYIF) in partnership with AIESEC in mainland China, challenged participants to design mobile applications contributing to making our cities smarter. Teams of two from Europe and China paired up thanks to an online platform and jointly developed their innovative mobile application during a two-day coding event in Brussels.
The first prize was awarded to Dawid Cieślak from Warsaw in Poland and Li Yanzhong from Guangzhou in China, who jointly developed COCOFFEE, an app enabling smart business networking. COCOFFEE will facilitate communication between participants at an event who have the same interests by connecting with their LinkedIn accounts.
The second prize went to Irman Abdic from Munich in Germany for his app Birdly, which will allow users to identify a bird by its song.
Li Jiancheng from Beijing in China and Andrei-Tudor Diaconu from Romania came third. They presented AudioCity, an app project aimed at allowing museums to make their audio guides available in one single app.The winners of the first prize receive €20 000. The teams ranked second and third are awarded €10 000 and €5 000 respectively. All winning teams will receive one-to-one mentoring to help them commercialise their app.
“As an ICT leader with a long-term vision, we believe that nurturing young talent and fostering e-skills is one of the most important investments we can make,” said Tony Graziano, Vice-President of Huawei’s EU Public Affairs Office. “Our training initiatives are part of our contribution as a responsible corporate citizen, but also a facet of our approach to staying on top of the innovation game.” He also highlighted the need for joining forces across geographical boundaries to drive digital innovation.
“InnoApps, which empowers young innovators to build SMART City Digital solutions and demonstrates them in two of the largest economies, the EU and China, is an excellent way to address pressing urban challenges collaboratively by citizens of these zones who share these common concerns every day,” said Kumardev Chatterjee, President of EYIF.
"There are problems and opportunities across the nation and around the world. These challenges call for entrepreneurial leadership among the young generation to not only understand them but to also take action about what's happening around us. The competition not only boosts ideas and technology-based solutions, but more importantly, it supports young leaders and entrepreneurs who can work on their strengths to explore their potential to make a positive impact on the world," stressed Zhang Xin, President of AIESEC in mainland China.
Now in its second year, the annual InnoApps challenge was launched to support young people in transforming their creative ideas into viable business projects and help them navigate an increasingly globalised ICT business environment. It directly supports the EU goal of creating a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy by 2020.
Find out more: www.innoapps.eu
About the European Young Innovators Forum (EYIF)
The European Young Innovators Forum is an independent, non-profit, pan-European, bottom-up association dedicated to promoting youth innovation. EYIF has rapidly become the leading foundation for youth innovation in Europe reaching more than 350 000 participants across all EU member states. EYIF gives a voice to a community of young innovators and experts who believe in taking risks, changing mind-sets for innovation and valuing shared ideas and professional mentorship.
Further information is available at: www.eyif.eu
Follow us on Twitter @EYIF
About AIESEC
AIESEC is a global, non-political, independent, not-for-profit organization run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher education, founded in1948. Its members are interested in world issues, leadership and management. AIESEC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, creed, and religion, national, ethnic or social origin. AIESEC provides its members with an integrated development experience comprised of leadership opportunities, international internships and participation in a global learning environment. To date, we have 780 local offices including 2 400 universities and 86 000 members. Every year, AIESEC MoC sends 3000+ young students abroad. They are the best ambassadors to convey the importance of an international experience.
AIESEC is willing to partner with all external entities that provide a positive experience, except those engaged in illegal activities and those that have a negative reputation in the external market.
Further information is available at: www.aiesec.org