In October I wrote about the upcoming CES in Las Vegas, where I will attend as an industry executive invited by the U.S. embassy and as a member of the official press.
For the press there are two days of exclusive pre-events before the show opens to the public January 7th. I will report back here on the latest trends in technology and give you my thoughts on what to watch for.
The CES is a showcase, and my favorite from 2013 was the Mobile Apps Showdown. For 2014 they added a special feature with the inaugural Student App-reneur Scholarship Awards to honor outstanding achievement in app creation by high school, college and graduate school students. The Kay Family Foundation, an innovative grant-making foundation working with Living in Digital Times (LIDT), created a scholarship fund to honor young entrepreneurial students for outstanding mobile app development. In this interview Robin Raskin talks about the CES and LIDT.
I taught for 25 years so this part is exciting. Entries from around the world are being accepted for the first-ever App-reneur Awards now through December 20, 2013. The winning entries will be showcased by the students at 2014 CES during the Mobile Apps Showdown, a live competition won by audience applause that takes place on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 12:30 p.m. PT in the Las Vegas Convention and World Trade Center (LVCC), North Hall, Room N255. Judging from last year where they ran out of seats and with this new twist, people will show up early to get the best seats. I will interview some of the winners so watch for this.
The App-reneur Awards will honor the creative efforts of student-built applications running on any of the current mobile app devices including iOS, Android, Windows 8, as well as smartwatches/wristwear, Google Glass and other emerging platforms. Winners will be invited to attend 2014 CES as guests of the Kay Family Foundation and showcase their apps to the industry as part of the Mobile Apps Showdown, a contest that pits the most powerful new apps in the world in a competition of those “most likely to succeed.”
The final two App-reneur Awards winners will each receive a US$5,000 scholarship to further support the student’s endeavors in bringing new apps to market.
“The world is calling for a new generation of transformative leaders with a strong command of science and technology, entrepreneurial and creative thinking, communication savvy and ethical core values,” said Elim Kay, president of the Kay Family Foundation. “Our foundation is interested in championing a demand-driven surge of 21st century global leaders.”
“The Mobile Apps Showdown thrusts tomorrow’s winning apps into the limelight and is one of the most popular standing-room-only events of the four-day International CES,” said Robin Raskin, creator of the Mobile Apps Showdown and founder of Living in Digital Times. “We’re thrilled that the Kay Family Foundation is working with us to help identify students and rising entrepreneurs who are destined to be the next generation of world-class app builders.”
High school, college and graduate school students from all over the world can submit submit apps through http://mobileappsshowdown.com and clicking on the Kay Family Foundation App-reneur Awards. The free application requires a brief description of the app, along with a URL and a statement from the student. The judges, including journalists, engineers and developers from the mobile community, will rate the apps based on their creativity, innovative problem solving, user interface and originality. The public will be able to review the submissions online and cast their votes for the most promising app.
Students will be notified of their status by Dec. 25th and will be invited to travel to Las Vegas to present live in person or via Skype during the Showdown. The award nominees will be showcased on the Mobile Apps Showdown website.