ITU 2014 Young Innovators competition winners named

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has announced the winners of its fourth annual ITU Young Innovators’ Competition.

The competition, which sought innovative digital solutions with positive social impact to four challenges was opened to young social entrepreneurs between ages 18 and 30 from around the world.

The winners will be heading to ITU Telecom World 2014, the leading networking, solutions showcasing and knowledge-sharing event for the global ICT community in Doha, Qatar from December 7-11.

At ITU Telecom World 2014 in Doha, the Young Innovators Competition winners will take part in an accelerator programme to take their projects to the next level via one-on-one sessions with start-up mentors and business experts, hands-on workshop training and peer mentoring from the winners of the 2013 competition.

Based on their performance during the Young Innovators Pitching Session, each winner will be awarded up to $10,000 for start-ups and $5,000 for concepts, according to ITU.

According to ITU, eight start-ups and concepts were selected on the basis of social impact and potential for business success. They include:

Challenge 1: Local Digital Content with Challenge Partner Ooredoo
•TeleMuseum – Lorna Okeng, Uganda: Online virtual museum preserving and digitalising African local content, oral traditions, and culture in cinema
•Incept – Safouan Ben Jha, Tunisia: Interactive, multilingual augmented reality app for museums and historic sites.

Challenge 2: Open Source Technologies for Disaster Management
•Social Media Coordination (SoMeC) – Hemant Purohit, India: Web app to identify social media influencers and improve disaster response coordination.
• NAJI – Your Mobile Is Your Saviour – Sahar Pakseresht, Iran: App and bracelet using body sensor networks to locate people missing in natural disasters.

Challenge 3: Smart Cities & Climate Change with Challenge Partner WHO
•Making Sense of Sensor Technology – Vratul Kumar, India: Wireless smart sensor technology applied to waste disposal networks.
•Matti – Jeisson Díaz, Colombia: GPS-based social app to raise awareness on recycling and climate change.

Challenge 4: The Internet of Things with Challenge Partner IEEE IoT Initiative
•Unplugged – Marvin Arnold, USA: Developing a secure decentralised information exchange platform to rival the Internet.
•CONNECTED ECO – Fatoumata Kebe, France/Mali: Solar-powered sensor providing real-time analysis of soil conditions and irrigation needs.