Internet.org Innovation Challenge

• The Internet.org Innovation Challenge in India supports Internet.org’s vision of a connected world by recognizing those who are working to make the internet more relevant to women, students, farmers and migrant workers in India.
• Internet.org Innovation Challenge in India is a competition which encourages the development of apps, websites and online services which will prove beneficial to the Citizens of India and especially to the above mentioned communities in the long run.

• Participants of the Internet.org Innovation Challenge in India should keep in the mind the below mentioned things while submitting their entry.
  • Submitting the app, website or service
  • Brief Summary of the project
  • App installation and usage files
• The app, website or service can be developed on any platform, but it should work on a mobile phone.
• The platform chose by the candidate for development will affect their application’s potential reach and this might become an obstacle during judging (mobile web is more widely available than iOS, for example).
• Last date for the receipt of Applications is April 30, 2015. Winners will be announced in June 2015. 
• The Grand Prize wins $250,000 USD as award prize.

• Grand Prize: Innovation Challenge Award prize of $250,000 USD will be presented to the best app, website or service as determined by judges. Four Awards will be offered, one for each category namely; women, students, farmers and migrant workers.
  • They will also be eligible to receive a package of tools and services amounting to $60,000 USD from Facebook's FbStart program
• Impact Award Prizes: Two apps, websites or services will be selected from each of the four specified population categories and will be awarded an Impact Award prize amounting to $25,000 USD. In total 8 awards will be offered.

A maximum of one prize will be awarded to each individual, group or organization.

Online Applications: Candidates have to email all the below-mentioned materials to enterchallenge@internet.org. The participants have to send the signed copy of the rules with the entry.

Guidelines for Participation in the Internet.org Innovation Challenge

• Number of Entries: Candidates are free to enter more than once only if they have more than one app, website or service that serves the needs of one of the designated populations.

Step by Step Brief Information

• Personal Details: All the entries should have the full legal name, mailing address and phone number of the individual, organization or group submitting the app, website or service.
  • If in case you are submitting as an organization or group the name, email and phone number of a contact person should also be included.
• Brief Summary of the project: The summary should include the following points:
  • Team background
  • Project goals
  • Target audience and size
  • Plans for rollout and language support.
  • Candidates are also permitted to use screenshots or other images of the project in summary, if applicable.
  • Word Limit: Not more than 2,000 words.
  • The summary can be submitted either in the body of the email, or as a link or attachment.
• App installation and usage files: The project should be accompanied with App installation and usage instructions booklet, if necessary.
• A signed copy of the Challenge rules, as an attachment
• Video (Optional): Candidates can also submit a video about their project and must be included as a link (no attachments).
  • Time duration: Not more than 5 minutes

Guidelines

• App, website or service can be in any language. 
• The entry and all accompanying materials should be in English.
• The app, website or service must be in a working state, not simply a prototype.

The winners will be selected by the judges’ at their sole discretion by taking into consideration the following points:

• Innovation: It will examine how original, groundbreaking or creative is the app, website or service?
• Impact: What will be the impact of the app, website or service impact on numerous lives in meaningful ways?
• Scalability: Does the app, website or service scale technically? What percentage of the designated population will it reach? Is the content localized? Is multilingual support available?
• Launch-readiness: How soon will the app, website or service be publicly available, beyond prototypes and limited trials, if it isn’t already? If it's already publicly available, how stable and consistent is its performance?

Panel of Judges

The Applications received will be judged by the diverse global panel of technology leaders, namely:

• Dr Avneesh Agrawal, President, Qualcomm India & South Asia
• Arun Bansal, SVP & Head of Radio, Ericsson
• Chris Daniels, VP, Internet.org/Facebook
• Ameet Suri, Partnerships Manager, Internet.org/Facebook
• Raj Talluri, SVP of Product Management, Qualcomm

The announcement of Internet.org Innovation Challenge Result: Winners will be contacted by email during late May, around one week before the public announcement.