LTU students to the finals of the Ericsson Application Award
Two students from Luleå University of Technology in cooperation with the firm Neave in Luleå moved on to the finals in the competition Ericsson Application Award. They have developed an application to a mobile phone that provides automated alerts when eg a car accident occurs and it has been selected by a global jury with thousand of users.
- You have something great going on, but think even bigger and take it to market, was the message the chairmen for the jury gave to Luleå team
They were praised by a check for 10,000 Euros and a cell phone each from Ericsson. They had been selected in the category of business by a global jury of a total of about 200 entries. The was a second in the category for an English team.
Ericsson Application Award is a global competition which, along with earning money, even given the opportunity to prove themselves within the telecom world, and get access to Ericsson's distribution channels. The competition has two categories, one for students and another with companies. LTU-students Fredrick Bernspång and John Berggren has done something in between, namely, to take up the idea and an offer from the company Neave in Luleå, when they would do their final thesis. As the idea is owned by Neava, their solotion will compete in the premium category, in the Ericsson Application Award.
As part of that the students have developed the entries into a finished application, and made a presentation video. To participate in the Ericsson Application Awards they need to shoot a film where "app" is explained. Thanks to the demo movie, according to the two LTU students, it has been easy to demonstrate the function for others. One effect was that they received feedback from all sorts of audiences, including those who are not in the least interested in smart phones and all that implies
Neava's activities is among others to develop and improve capabilities in the telecommunications and within that the LTU students had the opportunity to develop their "winning" application up to the finals in the competition. It is an application that provides information in an acute event. When an accident occurs it sends a text message from a mobile phone to a preselected acute receiver with details about the victim and his or her position. At the same time alerts the mobile phone in different ways with high light and sound for a limited time before the alarm goes out, so that the driver may turn it off.
