Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and Ericsson announced Ericsson-PTA Mobile Excellence Award 2011 winners at a ceremony held today at Ericsson Pakistan Headquarter in Islamabad.
The award has been conferred to the winning team for their exemplary efforts in developing a mobile application “Poor mans’ Reader” to facilitate literacy in the country. The ceremony was graced by Dr. Mohammed Yaseen, Chairman of PTA and senior management of Ericsson Pakistan.
Mr. Muhammad Bilal Zafar and Mr. Muhammad Ahmad Bashir Senior year Undergraduate Students from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Department of Computer Science, School of Science and Engineering were awarded a cash prize of 100,000 PKR for their ability to demonstrate an innovative mobile application benefiting and empowering people and the society in the education category.
On this occasion Mr. Mohsen Tavakol, President & CEO of Ericsson Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd said that “The response to the Ericsson- PTA Mobile Excellence Awards 2011 has been great with nominations received from top universities across Pakistan. He said that the work of our students and academia industry are carrying out in the mobile arena is commendable and Ericsson aims to bring academia closer to the industry with initiatives such as Ericsson- PTA Mobile Excellence Awards.
He further announced that the winner of the Ericsson- PTA Mobile Excellence Award 2011 will be given an opportunity to do industrial practice as interns within Ericsson for a period of 6 months from the time of graduation. “The Ericsson-PTA Mobile Excellence Award 2011 reaffirms our commitment to not only growing the telecommunications industry in Pakistan, but also being the change agent innovating to empower people and businesses we work with and the societies we live in” he further added.
While speaking on the occasion, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen, Chairman PTA, applauded Ericsson’s initiatives and commitment to the Telecom Industry of Pakistan “We are proud to witness and recognize the work of our university students in the mobile development world and our partnership with Ericsson facilitates us in the escalation of ICT industry in Pakistan. We look forward to carrying out significant projects, such as the Ericsson- PTA Mobile Excellence Award 2011, in the future as well, to bridge the gap between industry, academia and the regulator”.
A runner up award was conferred upon F.Sc students from the University of Karachi, Mr. Sameer Ahmed Khan, Mr. Zohaib Ahmed Shakir and Mr. Noman Bin Rizwan for developing “Educating Dreams – Be a saviour!” mobile application. The panel of judges also conferred two special recognition awards upon Mr. Irfan Ullah Khan, from Comsats University of Technology, Abottabad, for developing a “Home Security System” and presenters of “Clever Minds” application, Mr. Hammad Masood and Mr. Yawar Abbas from FAST Karachi.
It may be mentioned that the Ericsson- PTA Mobile Excellence Award was launched in September 2010 to honor students who have developed the most innovative user generated or professionally produced content that engages the mobile user and enhances the traditional mobile content experience.
This year, the Ericsson- PTA Mobile Excellence Award 2011 aimed to reward the most innovative mobile application which proved to empower people, business and society in the Education, Energy and Security domains. The aim was to award students who act as drivers of change and growth for people, businesses and society in the three domains. Numerous applications were received from students registered with HEC recognized business administration and engineering/computer science universities across Pakistan.
The short listed candidates presented visual demonstration of their applications to the panel of judges. All submissions were subject to a pre defined criteria which included innovation (no re-use or adaptation of already existing applications), ease of use and reach, impact of the application when used by people, businesses, or society, tangible business benefits and ability of the application to drive change, growth and empowerment for people, businesses and society in the Education, Energy and Security domains.
Great news, hoping that the deserving people would have got awarded with in the ceremony…..
They have. The panel is consisting of a number of technical Subject Matter Experts from both Ericsson and PTI, who independently look into the proposals. The candidates must also do a demo in front of the joint panel. The final evaluation/decision/selection is taken within that board (panel). The Chairman of PTA and the President of Ericsson are not included in that panel, so there is no higher management influence there. Once the panel has made its decision, it’s communicated to the heads of PTA and Ericsson for approval – not for thier input. The process is transparent.