Apply: Nokia Bell Labs Prize -- Global Competition for Innovators 2018 (Up to $100k in Prizes)

Applications are now open for the 5th annual Bell Labs Prize Competition. The Bell Labs Prize is a competition for innovators from participating countries around the globe that seeks to recognize proposals that ‘change the game’ in the field of information and communications technologies by a factor of 10, and provides selected innovators the unique opportunity to collaborate with Bell Labs researchers to help realize their vision.

A prestigious competition that aims to provide a unique opportunity for innovators to change the world with big ideas, following in the great tradition of Bell Labs.

Prizes:

All three winners will also be considered for the unique opportunity to work within the world-renowned Bell Labs to further explore their ideas, following the end of the competition

1^st prize: $100K + matching $100k for the winner’s university
2^nd Prize: $50K
3^rd prize: $25K

Eligibility:

Open to innovators around the globe.
You must be a citizen of one of these countries: United States, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bulgaria, Canada (except Quebec), China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Portugal, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan – Province of China, Turkey, United Kingdom.
You must be aged 21 or over at the time of registration on the website.
Employees and applicants are not eligible to participate in the Contest, but interns are.

Evaluation Criteria:

Ideas will be evaluated by Bell Labs researchers based on the following 3 criteria:

10x Innovation Potential – How is your proposal novel – what has not been done before, what is the “out of the box” thinking that could result in a 10x change in performance (e.g., speed/throughput, distance, latency, cost, energy efficiency or simplicity)?
Technical Merit – How technically sound is your proposal? On what current principles and capabilities does it depend versus further/future advancements and innovations?
Feasibility – Can a proof of concept, simulation or demonstration be built in the course of the competition? What is required to do so? In order to build a commercially viable (revenue and profit-generating) solution, what more would be required?)The finalists who present to the Judging Panel will also be evaluated on a 4th criterion, which focuses on the commercial value proposition:
Business Impact – What is the magnitude of the new ICT-related business created by the proposal? How soon could it be brought to market and how differentiated/unique is the proposition?

Application:

Please register here. Once your email address has been verified, you can submit your application by filling the form available from your dashboard.

All participants will be notified of Stage 1 results by June 1, 2018, and Stage 2 Results by October 17, 2018. Stage 2 finalists will also receive feedback and comments from Bell Labs Reviewers.