Mobile for Good Europe Awards starts competition for apps that will make lives better
Vodafone Foundation today announced the launch of the first Mobile for Good Europe Awards to search for iOS and Android apps designed to improve people's lives and deliver substantial public benefit.
Creators of the winning apps, in categories including accessibility, mobilising public services, health and education, will receive a shared prize fund of Euro 200,000 to be used for the development of their innovations.
The awards build on the success of the Vodafone Foundation's Smart Accessibility Awards, held in 2011 and 2012, which was a competition to find Android apps that can improve the lives of those with disabilities and the elderly. Last year's winners included Juan Carlos Gonzalez Montesino who designed Ablah, an app to help his autistic son communicate.
Vodafone Group sustainability director and director of the Vodafone Foundation, Andrew Dunnett, said: 'Mobile technology has the potential to educate, liberate and empower hundreds of millions of people. We hope the Mobile for Good Europe Awards will inspire innovators to invest in new and creative ways to use mobile to enhance individual daily lives and deliver substantial public benefits.'
Judges of the health category will be searching for innovative solutions to overcome challenges in areas such as real time patient monitoring and the collection and distribution of health related data. For the accessibility category, which follows on from last year's smart accessibility awards, judges will look for apps which can improve the quality of life for those with disabilities or the elderly.
The education category judges will look for mobile apps which provide simple and effective teaching tools and the mobilising public services category will focus on how local and national governments can use mobile technology to improve the delivery of public services.
In each of the four categories, the winner will receive Euro 30,000, second place wins Euro 15,000 and third place receives Euro 5,000. There will be local workshops organised for the developers in Berlin, Amsterdam and Madrid. The closing date for entries is 15 October and an awards ceremony will be held in Brussels on 5 December 2013.
The Mobile for Good Europe Awards is a partnership with AGE Platform Europe and the European Disability Forum.
