'Battle Out', 'Facial Recognition' and 'Safe City' apps have been pronounced as the winners of Uninor's ‘Internet for All Challenge’ at the grand finale of the competition, held in New Delhi recently. The top two winners Swati Sachdeva (Battle Out) and Nipun Matreja (Facial Recognition) received cash prize of Rs 1 Lac and Rs 50,000 respectively as a fund to develop their idea further and will get an opportunity to represent India at the Telenor Group's Youth Summit 2014, to be held in Oslo, Norway.
According to Uninor, the competition witnessed participation from over 600 youth across the country and after a couple of rounds of shortlisting, seven finalists from six operating circles and Delhi were chosen for the grand finale.
The winning idea ‘Battle Out’ is about helping women in danger, by being able to trace their locations via a mobile app while they are in distress. The first runner-up’s idea Facial Recognition is about using facial recognition software to identify a criminal, a loved one or a dead body. This app can help locate loved ones who one might have lost, or a potentially dangerous person about to do harm.
Sigve Brekke, EVP and Head of the Telenor Asia
We believe in the power of youth to bring progressive change in the society. This along with affordable and easy access to Internet can bring transformation in India, providing relevant and useful local content that benefit the masses. Through this platform we offer the winners a chance to engage with youth from other countries and break cultural barriers.
Morten K Sorby, CEO of Uninor,
With 65% of Indians below 35 years of age, youth is a strong force in the country. Uninor is engaging with the youth to offer them a platform to realise the full potential of affordable internet and build suitable services that can provide opportunity to empower society. We saw very good ideas in every phase of the IFA Challenge. We congratulate the winners and wish them all the best for The Telenor Youth Summit in Oslo, Norway. This will certainly be an experience that they will remember for a lifetime.
Congratulations to @sachdevaswaty, a 2nd year student at #MICA, for winning the @Uninor ‘Internet For All’ challenge. pic.twitter.com/wBxodRU30P — MICA (@MICA_ahmedabad) October 18, 2014
