Zuckerberg announces $1 mn Innovation Challenge in India

The goal of the challenge is to encourage development of apps, websites and online services that provide real value to women, students, farmers and migrant workers

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | October 13, 2014

Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced the $1 million Internet.org Innovation Challenge during his address at the first Internet.org Summit, in New Delhi.

At the Summit, he spoke about good inventions and highlighted the power of connectivity. He also pointed out that technology has to be such that it benefits the whole society and it cannot be the privilege of just a handful.

Making his observations about India, Zuckerberg said that the country has embraced science, research and technology, but now is the time to embrace internet. Even though 243 million people are connected to the internet, and 100 million are already on Facebook, there are more than a billion people who don't have any access to the internet. He said, quoting a research, “69 per cent of Indians who have never accessed internet don't have enough reasons why they should use it and what benefit internet can provide them. The only way one can motivate this section is when you show them the value internet can provide, as mobile is already doing by connecting people.”

According to a recent report by McKinsey & Company, one of the main barriers to internet adoption is the lack of relevant, local and multilingual content and services online. This is what keeps the internet restricted to a limited section of the society. To fill the gap, Facebook is working in rural India to improve internet connectivity. He also stressed on the need for a '911' for internet, through which users can avail the basic internet services, even without using any plan.

Revealing some important statistics, Zuckerberg said that 25 per cent fewer women are connected to the internet, compared to men; 80 per cent of content on the internet are just in 10 languages, while there are 22 official languages in India; 65 per cent of people use Facebook in a language other than English.

Keeping in mind these drawbacks, he announced the Internet.org Innovation Challenge in India, which is an effort to recognise those who are working to make the internet more relevant to four sections that are currently underserved in India- women, students, farmers and migrant workers. These communities face some of the largest structural barriers to going online, and the content they find once they are connected is often of little value to them.

According to the press release on Internet.org, Facebook will be presenting four $250,000 Innovation Challenge Award prizes, one to the leading app, website, service or idea that best meets the needs of each of the designated population categories. Two $25,000 Impact Award prizes will be granted in each category. Winners will be announced at the Mobile World Congress to be held in March 2015, and interested individuals, organisations and groups can submit applications till January 31, 2015.

To know more log on to http://internet.org/innovationchallenge

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