UAE team makes Ericsson Innovation finals

Ericsson has announced the top ten semi-finalists for its sixth annual Innovation Awards, a competition in which university students are given the opportunity to be drivers of change.

From the Middle East, the list includes UAE-based team VRMotion, comprising students from the New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD).

Each team was required to provide a product description document and a business case.

As part of their submission, VRMotion delivered a Virtual Reality (VR) technique which taps into online education tools

The interactive method allows students to adopt a more ‘hands-on’ approach to learning and rely on a re-created three-dimensional environment to delve into specific subject matters.

“We are proud that the VRMotion team is shortlisted at the 2015 semi-finals,” said Girish Johar, Vice President and Head of Human Resources, Ericsson Region Middle East. “Their submission has captured the mission of this competition, which is to use innovation to shape ‘The Future of Learning’ and help make learning accessible for all. We congratulate the VRMotion team and wish them the best of luck in the next round of the contest.”

Started in 2009, the competition began as the Ericsson Application Awards, a research and development initiative to spark app development and boost innovation.

In 2015, the competition’s scope was broadened to target university talent globally. It has moved from being a competition based on app development to one focusing on innovation.

In this year’s competition, 270 teams from 43 countries have entered.

The finalists will be announced on 16th March.

The finalists will then gather at Ericsson’s headquarters in Sweden, where the winners will be revealed on 15th April.