Italian startup Atooma wins Telekom Innovation Contest 2014

At the second annual Telekom ideas competition, Atooma triumphed in the Champions Pitch round. In the global final in Krakow a total of eleven startups from Europe and Israel competed for seed capital, hardware and software prizes, contacts to top decision-makers in the Telekom Group and inclusion in international startup events such as the Long Night of the Startups in Berlin, which attracts up to 6,000 visitors.

Atooma - a Touch of Magic

Atooma is a platform that connects smart devices, apps and sensors to bring automatic smart actions to end-users. It is an almighty Smart Action Automation App and Platform designed to integrate with various existing products and +80 services such as wearable devices, smart appliances, web and mobile services, and other hardware. The Atooma Platform enables Device Manufacturers and Brands to access their proprietary software development kit and application programming interface and activate desired smart actions easily through one simple interface. As an example, set up Atooma App to launch the music when running or jogging, the phone will automatically fulfill the action when needed, thus circumventing the need for the user to engage the phone manually. Luca Barboni, Marketing & Communications Manager, represented Atooma successfully in Krakow: "With our app devices will become even more intelligent. We are looking forward to the cooperation with Deutsche Telekom. In the next week the Atooma team will meet with experts of Deutsche Telekom and hub:raum Berlin to discuss the cooperation in detail.

VoiceItt, an Israeli startup, will be supported by the jury members Robert Pataki, Chief Business Development Officer at Magyar Telekom and Wolfgang Hisserich, Vice President Global Business Development & Venturing. The two jury members will act as mentors for the team of Danny Weissberg und Jessica Eisenberg. VoiceItt is a voice technology application that allows people with severe motor, speech, and language disorders to use their own voice to express themselves. It provides a natural, easy to use Augmentative and Alternative Communication platform to people with speech and motor disabilities worldwide, improving their ability to communicate and allowing them to increase their independence and social interactions.

Strategic partnering: Win-Win for startups and global players

The partners are looking forward to working with the winning team, too. Dr. Heinrich Arnold, Global Head of Telekom Innovation Laboratories and one of the contest founders: “Congratulations to the winner Atooma! We are looking forward to see this solution developed and brought to the market. I´m proud that we decided to launch the Telekom Innovation Contest in 2013 in order to attract young entrepreneurs to submit their ideas and benefit from working with Deutsche Telekom experts. Telekom Innovation Contest has allowed Telekom Innovation Laboratories and Deutsche Telekom’s incubators and all countries where Deutsche Telekom is present to work together as partners in selecting the winning ideas. Marking Telekom Innovation Laboratories’ 10-year anniversary this year, the Contest’s success also proves that our open innovation approach has paid off ever since."

Peter Borchers, Founder and Head of hub:raum Berlin, adds: “Telekom Innovation Contest clearly shows the big picture of interconnecting early-stage startups with Deutsche Telekom. With hub:raum, Telekom Innovation Laboratories, Kitchen Budapest and others, Deutsche Telekom is proposing a comprehensive offer to startups to pragmatically link them with global business partners. Therefore we support the Telekom Innovation Contest and are looking forward to meet the winning teams. ”

The 2014 Telekom Innovation Contest

The Telekom Innovation Contest was created in 2013 by Telekom Innovation Laboratories in Berlin, T-Mobile Poland and Magyar Telekom in Hungary. In 2014, the ideas competition is also supported by all of Deutsche Telekom's incubators - hub:raum in Berlin, Krakow and Tel Aviv, along with Kitchen Budapest and UQBATE, a program for employees. Other national companies in the Telekom Group in Central and Eastern Europe also participated. In spring 2014, a total of 326 teams spread across 39 countries and four continents applied to enter the Telekom Innovation Contest. In national semi-finals the project partners selected eleven finalists. At the Champions Pitch in Krakow, Poland, an important market for Deutsche Telekom in Central and Eastern Europe, the teams presented their ideas to a jury of international experts.

Image material of the winners and more information about the successful startups will be available soon at the following link: www.telekom-innovation-contest.com.

About Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with over 142 million mobile customers, 31 million fixed-network lines and over 17 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2013). 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 around 50 countries and has approximately 229,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenue of 60.1 billion euros in the 2013 financial year - over half of it outside Germany.

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