VimpelCom launches Eurasia Mobile Challenge

VimpelCom Ltd., a leading global provider of telecommunications services headquartered in Amsterdam and serving over 218 million customers, today launches the Eurasia Mobile Challenge in Armenia. The challenge aims to seek out young people from across Eurasia to come up with the industry’s next big mobile solution.
 
The competition will see entrants from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan invited to build a mobile solution for their country, and then pitch their concepts to a panel of judges. The search is on for the next killer app, or solution focused on addressing the opportunities and challenges for society in those countries.
 
“As we move into an ever-more digital and customer-centric world, innovation and progress cannot happen fast enough. So while we focus on new product and service development within our own four walls, we are also bringing young and inquisitive minds into the mix from the global market place. This competition is designed to help foster an entrepreneurial ecosystem by giving young people a national, regional and potentially global platform to create commercial opportunities to shape the future,’’ said Yogesh Malik, CTO VimpelCom.

«Launching this global competition in Armenia, Beeline aims to attract talented young Armenian people who will be able to realize their ideas and present the most modern mobile solutions on national and international platforms.  Such projects focused on digital innovations may become the industry’s next big mobile phenomenon and we want to be in the epicenter of this transformation of products and business approach,” - noted Andrey Pyatakhin, CEO Beeline Armenia.

Launching today, the competition provides a global platform for both technical and non-technical young talent to create opportunities that will help shape the future, as well as drive economic growth in the country and region. Each of the participating countries will host its own dedicated local Eurasia Mobile Challenge competition with entrants competing against local peers.

To register, go to eurasiamobilechallenge.com and start working on your mobile solutions to present at the local Bootcamps being held from mid-October. During the Bootcamps, entrants will have the opportunity to enhance their concepts through a series of workshops, and benefit from access to local and international mentors who can help turn their idea into a workable mobile solution.
 
Submissions will be judged by industry experts from each of the countries, who will assess the entries based on innovativeness, relevance to the local community, scalability and originality.

Following the workshops, three finalists from each country will progress to the regional finals in Moscow, Russia, in January 2016. After a further competitive pitch in Moscow, three regional finalists will receive a combination of cash, devices and a fully paid trip to compete against other regional teams in the Global Mobile Challenge, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, between 22-26 February 2016. The competition is being run in partnership with Huawei.