Together with global partners Qualcomm Ventures, GSMA 5G IN, Amazon Web Services, and LinkedIn, the OPPO Research Institute has announced the launch of the 2023 OPPO Inspiration Challenge, unveiled on World Smile Day.
Under the theme “Inspiration Ahead,” OPPO and its global technology ecosystem partners aim to bring innovative solutions to everyday life by creating funding, support, and partnership opportunities. Through this collaboration, OPPO hopes these innovations will drive positive impact and raise awareness of issues affecting global communities.
Image: OPPO
“At OPPO, we firmly believe in the principle of ‘Virtuous Innovation.’ We will continue to explore and develop new technologies with a people-first approach. Global challenges around public health, accessible technology, and environmental protection are no longer problems any single person can solve alone. That’s why we’ve launched the Inspiration Challenge, to bring together like-minded innovators who want to use the power of technology to build a better world for everyone,” said the Head of OPPO’s Research Institute.
Applications for the 2023 OPPO Inspiration Challenge will be accepted from May 8 to June 30, with three regional showcase events to be held in Bangkok, Boston, and Shenzhen in early August. Ahead of the final global showcase in late August, shortlisted applicants from each regional showcase will be invited to the Inspiration Challenge Acceleration Camp, where they will meet with OPPO executives and technical experts to refine their proposals.
This year, all proposals for the OPPO Inspiration Challenge will be scored based on four criteria: feasibility, technological innovation, long-term potential, and social value. The regional showcases will select a total of 15 qualifying proposals to advance to the global finals, from which 5 winning proposals will be selected to take part in the global final showcase, with each winning team receiving a prize of USD 50,000.
Image: OPPO
Alongside the 15 proposals from each regional challenge – 45 proposals worldwide in total – the program is also opening up unlimited partnership opportunities, including:
- Production and commercialization opportunities – with a total fund of USD 190,000 set aside to help bring collaborative solutions to life
- Strategic partnership and investment opportunities
- Opportunities to showcase at global technology events
- Access to cloud services and technical support from Amazon Web Services
Last year’s OPPO Inspiration Challenge, which tackled key challenges in ‘Accessible Technology’ and ‘Digital Health,’ drew 536 proposals from innovators around the world. OPPO worked closely with 18 of those teams to bring their proposals to life, with some being showcased on global platforms such as OPPO INNO DAY 2022 and MWC 2023.
Inspiration for People: Innovative Solutions for Digital Health and Accessible Technology
This category welcomes technologies, products, and services related to digital health and accessible technology. It includes innovations such as health-related algorithms and hardware sensors – for example, technologies designed for the elderly, advanced new sensors built into daily health monitoring devices, innovative digital health monitoring products, and assistive accessibility technologies. The main goal of this category is to make technology accessible and beneficial to everyone.
Image: OPPO
Inspiration for the Planet: Innovative Solutions for Environmental Protection and Low-Carbon Development
In line with OPPO’s commitment to achieving full carbon neutrality across its operations by 2050, this category welcomes innovative solutions for environmental protection and low-carbon development in consumer electronics. This includes sustainable materials and packaging using renewable energy, green production processes, recycling of electronic products, and digital management of carbon emissions.
Applications for the 2023 OPPO Inspiration Challenge will be accepted worldwide from May 8 to June 30. To learn more about the competition or to register, visit the official webpage at https://www.oppo.com/en/proposal/.