Today’s existential question – does a technology exist if there is not a competition to promote it? The Nokia Developer Summit offered us the hackathon and you can now see the outcome and several other summit sessions online. Also, NAVTEQ is getting involved with the European Satellite Navigation Competition 2009.

Nokia Developer Summit hacks its way online

While developing a world class widget may not be easy, the Calling All Innovators Hackathon was designed to show that, with the right idea and a passion for coding, it's not that hard either. 'The quality, creativity, and innovation coming from all the developers competing in the Calling All Innovators Hackathon was extraordinary', says Srikanth Raju, Head of Marketing for Forum Nokia.

The winner of the €15,000 grand prize, which includes four weeks of spotlight promotion in the Ovi Store, was Plusmo with a widget called 'Rocket'. Blending the original idea with their own innovation, Plusmo created a location based social networking widget that offeres the ability to send friends virtual goods, such as a bouquet of flowers. Videos of Plusmo and the other two finalists, Inova IT and PavingWays, can be found on the Nokia Developer Summit page by selecting ‘Calling All Innovators prize giving’ from the video list at the right of the page. Anyone considering entering the main Calling All Innovators competition could do well to take a look, as the selection criteria provides a helpful indication of what judges will be looking for.

Another summit item of interest to S60 widget developers is 'Unleashing Innovation for the World with Maps' in which Michael Halbherr, Vice President, Nokia Location-Based Services, Nokia discusses the Apps on Maps initiative. This initiative will see the introduction of JavaScript APIs for WRT widgets that enable developers to leverage Nokia Maps to display maps or provide directions. 

European Satellite Navigation Competition 2009

This international innovation contest - designed to award the best ideas for applications in satellite navigation - is not restricted to mobile applications, but should still be of interest to mobile developers. Run by the Application Center for Satellite Navigation in Oberpfaffenhofen (AZO) the competition brings together a diverse collection of sponsors: From the Madrid region offering a €20,000 prize for the best support-of-life to the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA), which is looking for promising solutions for the GPS augmentation system EGNOS.

Included in the list of sponsors is NAVTEQ, which will be awarding a 12-month incubation program membership to the best location-based application idea for mobile phones and navigation devices. The prize includes a one-year license to the developer’s choice of various NAVTEQ products, including; map data, LBS content and services. The incubation programme will assist the winner with coaching, technical and business development support, and web promotions through NAVTEQ Network for Developers™ (NN4D). A Personal Technical Consultant will assist in taking the winning idea through to successful implementation. The special topic prize winner will also get the opportunity to present their final application to NAVTEQ partners and customers, including leading handset manufacturers, platform, and technology providers. In total, the prize is worth approximately €75,000.

The ESCN ideas database at www.galileo-masters.eu is open for submissions now until 31 July. The awards will be presented on 21 October at a state reception to be held at the Munich Residenz.