Technology & IT | Tuesday 10 February, 2015 2:14 pm |

Ericsson has just 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 fundamental change in society.

From region Middle East, the list includes UAE-based team VRMotion, comprising students from the New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD).
As part of their submission, VRMotion delivered a pioneering idea that could prove a game-changer for the education services industry. Their work, which taps into the power of online education tools using a Virtual Reality (VR) technique, perfectly captures the theme of the 2015 competition – “The Future of Learning”.

Through this interactive method, students would be able to adopt a more ‘hands-on’ approach to learning and rely on a re-created three-dimensional environment to delve deep into specific subject matters.
“We are proud that the VRMotion team is shortlisted at the Ericsson Innovation Awards 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 changed its name to the Ericsson Innovation Awards, and the scope was broadened to target university talent globally. It has moved from being a competition based on app development to one focusing on innovation.

With education playing a key part in the move toward Ericsson’s vision of the Networked Society – where everything that can be connected will be connected – the 2015 theme is The Future of Learning.
The competition has been open to students from any academic institution, and in 2015, 270 teams from 43 countries have entered.
The finalists will be announced on March 16.
The finalists will then gather at Ericsson’s headquarters in Sweden, where the winners will be revealed on April 15.