Ericsson has announced that Team OwnLabs, from Senegal, is the overall winner of the Ericsson Innovation Awards (EIA) 2018 competition. The four finalist teams competed in the EIA 2018 grand final held at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.
Aligning with this year’s Nobel Week Dialogue, the theme for the competition – The Future of Truth – challenged student teams to answer the question of how technology can improve the way we find, validate, and share truth in a fully connected world. Exploring this theme, 1,444 university teams representing 107 countries entered the competition to present their innovative solutions.
Team OwnLabs, from the Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique de Dakar and Université de Ziguinchor in Senegal, seeks to address the lack of school labs in Africa by offering physics, chemistry and biology classes in a virtual reality environment via a smartphone.
Erik Ekudden, Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson, says: “The mobile network platform is the most important innovation platform globally. It enables local ideas and initiatives to quickly scale to a global market. We drive technology leadership in the industry with strong ecosystem partners with university collaborations, startups, and established companies. Being at the forefront of commercializing great technologies and business ideas is key to us. The Ericsson Innovation Awards is one way for us to spur innovation and thought leadership with a world-wide challenge which brings new perspectives and unorthodox thinking into the creative processes.”
The simplicity of OwnLabs’ idea to help young people find truth through experimental science and reach their full potential was the motivation behind the jury’s decision.
Congratulations to Abdou Khadre Diop, Mouhamadou Moustapha Diop, Thierno Ibrahima Diop, and Serigne Mbacke Coly (Team OwnLabs) from Senegal for winning the @Ericsson Innovation Awards 2018! Learn more about the competition and their winning idea: https://t.co/4MmIsjGNNz pic.twitter.com/P2TJe4NdtY
— Technology for Good (@EricssonSustain) May 29, 2018
“The team was able to make virtual reality come to life through a very good use-case scenario,” says Curtis Ludwig, Head of Employer Branding at Ericsson. “The judges were completely inspired by their idea and we hope they are able to make a lasting impact in Senegal.”
The jury for the 2018 Ericsson Innovation Awards included Mattias Fyrenius, CEO Nobel Media, Patrick Mesterton, CEO and Co-Founder of Epicenter Stockholm, Marina Petrova, Professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Anita Frisell, Head of Technology Development & Execution at Ericsson Research.
The Ericsson Innovation Awards is a global, annual competition that gives students around the world the opportunity to develop new, innovative ideas in collaboration with Ericsson experts.
