Registrations are on for the Nokia Bell Labs Prize.
The Nokia Bell Labs Prize is a competition for innovators from participating countries around the globe that seeks to recognize proposals that ‘change the game’ in the field of information and communications technologies by a factor of 10, and provides selected innovators the unique opportunity to collaborate with Bell Labs researchers to help realize their vision.
The competition also aims at providing a unique opportunity for innovators to change the world with big ideas, following in the great tradition of Bell Labs.
By taking part in the competition, participants will gain visibility to a high-profile audience of researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, media and partners. Also, as a participant you stand the chance of receiving support from Nokia and Bell Labs, one of the most advanced telecommunications companies and industrial research organizations in the world.
The competition is in stages, in Stage One, participants will be requested to formulate an idea (max 250 words) related to the field of information and communications technologies. Also, they will have the option to attach 3 pages of text and/or images to illustrate their concepts.
In the second stage, 10 finalists from Stage 1will be selected to compete for the 3 prizes at an event scheduled in the late Autumn, in front of a panel of renowned experts and industry leaders
Finalists from Stage 1 will also be assigned a Bell Labs researcher as a Partner (BLRP) to help them strengthen their idea and turn it into a robust proposal.
Your BLRP will help you develop each element of your idea – from your vision until initial thoughts on implementation through to description of context, risks and impact. The objective is to have a strong and complete proposal that selected finalists can present in person to the Bell Labs Judging Panel.
On the submission form, there is an outlined indicative list of categories related to communications technologies. Applicants are to select the one that best matches their ideas. The list is not restrictive and they are free to indicate a different category.
Categories: Web Applications, Cloud Services, Information Theory, Coding Theory, Computational Sciences, Cryptography, Distributed Systems, Data Privacy, Mathematics of Networks, Modulation Schemes, Optical Systems or Components, Communications Systems, Network Protocols, Security, Network Architecture, RF design, Sustainability, Wireless, Fixed Network technologies, Software-Defined Networks, Virtualization Technologies, Real-time Analytics, Search algorithms, Self-Optimizing Networks, Inference systems.
There will also be financial rewards. Bell Labs will be awarding a 1st prize of $100K, 2nd Prize of $50K and 3rd prize of $25K.
All three winners will also be considered for the unique opportunity to work within the world-renowned Bell Labs to further explore their ideas, following the end of the competition.
Winners will be announced at the Bell Labs prize awards event on or about December, 2018. Selected participants may have an opportunity to work with Bell Labs, giving them the opportunity to collaborate with researchers to further develop the idea and enhance its commercial viability.
Deadline for registration is April 25, 2018.
Interested candidates can register here.
