Industrial IoT Drives Nokia’s $175,000 Open Innovation Challenge

While the Internet of things or IoT is gaining traction across use cases, industrial IoT is believed to take the cut first and make the new technology mainstream. Keeping that in mind Nokia has thrown open an innovation challenge worth $175,000 to develop products and solutions around automation and IoT.

Nokia Open Innovation Challenge (NOIC) is an annual global competition, jointly conducted by Nokia and NGP Capital and seeks innovative technologies, products and solutions that can change the world.

The focus of this year’s competition is industrial automation and the industrial IoT domain, with prize money totaling $175,000 available to winning companies. The winners will also be given access to Nokia Bell Labs research & development resources, as well as opportunities to grow their businesses through joint partnerships with Nokia.

“We’re excited to open this year’s NOIC with a focus on industrial automation. This is a tremendous opportunity for startups and entrepreneurs to work alongside Nokia Bell Labs researchers and others in Nokia to bring their ideas to life. Our team looks forward to working with competition winners to help create new technologies that will create unparalleled increases in efficiency through augmented intelligent devices, systems, platforms, and applications,” said Marcus Weldon, President of Nokia Bell Labs and CTO of Nokia.

NOIC offers the opportunity for startup companies to propose best-in-class products and solutions within Industrial IoT. Participants can send their proposal or ideas till September 6, 2018. An international jury will then select the most advanced and innovative candidates to present their products or solutions at a final event to be held in early December at Nokia Bell Labs’ headquarters in Murray Hill, New Jersey.

Now in its sixth year, the goal of NOIC is to connect the world through innovations that shape the future of human collaboration, communication, connection and control.

Bo Ilsoe, Partner, NGP Capital, said, “We continue to champion this initiative by sponsoring it for the fifth year in a row. It’s a great way for us as investors to meet the best new companies in each challenge category and for Nokia to find new external partners. I am looking forward to seeing the innovation this year’s competitors bring.”-TeleAnalysis