- Cloud Computing idea category will be developed into a product using Telekom resources of up to EUR 500,000
- Team from Slovakia triumphs over 443 entries from 45 countries on four continents.
An international jury of experts selected the winner of the worldwide Telekom Innovation Contest in Berlin today. A total of 444 ideas from 45 countries on four continents were submitted. In the final showdown between the twelve best ideas, the team Excalibur from Slovakia came out on top. “Excalibur is a big solution, to a big problem. We solve not only existing problems with authentication, but are prepared to serve the authentication need in the world of tomorrow - where everything is connected to the Internet” explain Ivan Klimek, CEO/CTO of Excalibur, and Peter Luptak, CMO/CFO of Excalibur, at the Pitch Day in Berlin. “Telecom operators will be our key partners in this process, and we will create huge value for them by helping them capitalize an asset that they currently hardly utilize - the trust based relationship they have with their users. Participating in Telekom Innovation Contest was an important step for us toward securing the right connections. We were participating with the goal to reap the grand prize - a strategic cooperation with Deutsche Telekom. Now we can take our idea to the next level!” Excalibur is the brainchild of four Slovakian entrepreneurs: Ivan Klimek, Peter Luptak, Tomas Korenko and Marian Keltika. According to them Excalibur is unique in three ways: It’s anchored to an existing direct trust between the telecom operator and the user, projecting this trust between users, objects or services. It combines more authentication layers than anyone else, and does so seamlessly. It keeps all sensitive information invulnerable from leaks, device theft or hacks by using our patent-pending distributed crypto-scheme . The Contest partners will also support two more ideas: Cubilog from Hungary was named runner-up . The idea will be supported by Magyar Telekom and Telekom Innovation Laboratories. Homee from German startup Codeatelier reached third place. They will stay in close contact with Telekom Innovation Laboratories. Both teams received iPads as prizes. Moreover T-Venture will follow up on three more finalists. The international ideas competition was the brainchild of T-Mobile Poland, Magyar Telekom in Hungary and the Telekom Innovation Laboratories in Germany. It was also supported by Deutsche Telekom's international incubators - hub:raum Germany and Poland, UQBate and Kitchen Budapest - which also took part in the selection process and the final. The winning idea will be developed into a market-ready product and marketed using Telekom resources of up to EUR 500,000. These include business coaching, hardware and software and access to the Deutsche Telekom infrastructure. Almost 700 start-ups and individuals, including employees of Deutsche Telekom and its subsidiaries, registered for the first Telekom Innovation Contest, with 444 ideas submitted. By mid-May, Telekom experts selected twelve finalists from eight countries in a multi-stage process, who then had to pitch their idea and convince the jury today in Berlin. Over the next months, the winning team will develop a detailed development and business plan together with the Deutsche Telekom experts. The product or a prototype will be presented as early as in December 2013 at the Innovation Day in Poland. About the Telekom Innovation Contest The Telekom Innovation Contest is part of the Telekom Challenge program, through which Deutsche Telekom promotes new means of cooperation - both within the Company and together with external partners and innovators - in order to drive forward innovative products and solutions. Another element of the Telekom Challenge is the "Telemedicine in Kenya" initiative by the Deutsche Telekom unit Group Transformational Change (HR), which looks for employees to design a mobile application to improve the healthcare of pregnant women in Kenya.
About Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with more than 132 million mobile customers, over 32 million fixed-network lines and 17 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2012). The Group provides fixed-network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers, and ICT solutions for business and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in some 50 countries and has 230,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenue of EUR 58.2 billion in the 2012 financial year - over half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2012).