GSMA Announces Nominees for Mobile Innovation Grand Prix EMEA Tournament

LONDON - Strong line up of speakers from Telefonica, HTC, Visa, Accenture and Bebo to offer insights at GSMA’s Mobile Innovation EMEA Event

The GSMA today announced the nominees for the EMEA Tournament of the 2010 Mobile Innovation Grand Prix competition, along with a number of high-calibre industry executives who will speak at the upcoming GSMA Mobile Innovation EMEA Event, which is being held as part of the HiT Barcelona World Innovation Summit, in Barcelona, Spain, 18 - 19 June, 2009.

The Mobile Innovation ‘Grand Prix’ was created by the GSMA as part of its Mobile Innovation initiative, with the primary goal of showcasing promising entrepreneurs from small and medium-sized companies who are introducing innovative products and services. During the EMEA event, ten companies from around the world will compete in five categories, reviewed by a panel comprised of senior executives from mobile operators and venture capital firms. Two overall winners will win a trip to compete for the Mobile Innovation Grand Prix Cup at the leading event for the mobile communications industry, the Mobile World Congress, in February 2010.

The ten nominees for the EMEA leg of the 2010 Mobile Innovation Grand Prix are:

Most Innovative Consumer Application or Service - Solaiemes (Spain) - Multiplied Media (Canada) Most Innovative Embedded Mobile or Device-centric Technology - Scalado (Sweden) - IDENT Technology (Germany) Most Innovative Carrier Infrastructure or VAS Platform - AcCells (Israel) - Novarra (USA) Most Innovative Enterprise Application or Service - DeviceAnywhere (USA) - Apisphere (USA) Most Innovative Product Enabling a Greener World - GreenFire Technologies (USA) - Electro Power Systems (Italy)

“We are thrilled with the number of high-quality entries we’ve received for the first leg of the Mobile Innovation ‘Grand Prix’ competition being held at the inaugural HiT World Innovation Summit in Barcelona,” said Bill Gajda, Chief Commercial Officer at the GSMA. “Our Mobile Innovation EMEA Event will provide an invaluable opportunity for these companies to pitch new mobile technology, product, service and business propositions to senior executives within the mobile operator and venture capital communities.”

The GSMA has also announced a number of impressive speakers for the Mobile Innovation EMEA Event, who will discuss and debate ways in which the mobile industry can encourage and leverage new and innovative technologies, products and services to help shape the future success of mobile communications. These speakers and panelists include:

- Andy Zimmerman, Global MD, Accenture New Businesses - Michael Crossey, CMO, Aeopona - Sean Kane, Head of Mobile, Bebo - Anuraj Gambhir, Head of Multimedia, Strategy & Innovation, Ericsson India - Florian Seiche, VP, HTC Europe - Daniel Doulton, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer, Spinvox - Simon Torrance, CEO & Founder, STL Partners - David Wood, Catalyst & Futurist, Symbian Foundation - Carlos Domingo, EVP, Internet & Digital R&D, Telefonica - Hans Kuropatwa, Partner, Ventura Team - Tim Attinger, Head of Global Innovation, Visa - Paul Strzelecki, MD, Yorkville Advisors

Mobile Innovation Exchange

In addition to the physical events the GSMA’s Mobile Innovation initiative hosts throughout the year in Asia, Israel, the Americas and EMEA, the Mobile Innovation Exchange (MIX) is a virtual gathering place to facilitate year-round dialogue, deal-making, partnering, and consensus-building across all sectors of the mobile ecosystem.

For more information on the GSMA’s Mobile Innovation EMEA Event, the Mobile Innovation Grand Prix awards programme, and the Mobile Innovation Exchange community, please visit: www.mobileinnovation.org/events/hit & www.mobileinnovation.org

About the GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites more than 750 of the world’s mobile operators, as well as 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA is focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its membership, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile communications industry. For more information, please visit: www.gsmworld.com

Source: GSMA

Daniel Lowther of GSMA, +44-7747-636-687, press at gsm.org