The Arab Mobile App Challenge is your opportunity to design and develop a new, innovative app.
You can win big prizes and enhance your entrepreneurial skills.
It’s eligible for those living in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Tunisia, Jordan and Qatar.
You simply need to create a mobile app focusing on Education, Entertainment, Health or Employability/Entrepreneurship.
The best teams with the best apps will go to regional semi-finals in Qatar, in early February 2014.
Winning teams who reached the finals will be invited to compete at the annual international Mobile World Congress finals held in Barcelona during February 24-27, 2014. Rest assured expenses will be covered by the organisers.

Registration is now closed for our first event.

Co-Founders:

This challenge is organized by Silatech, a Qatar-based organization for employment, entrepreneurship and civic engagement, in partnership with the Applied Innovation Institute, USA.

• Are you interested in mobile app development?
• Do you have great ideas for new, innovative apps?
• Do you want to enhance your development skills?
• Would you like to be a tech entrepreneur?

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, then you should register your team to take part in this challenge.

There are two ways in which you can take part in this challenge:

1. You can participate with an app idea. By clicking on the Participate button, you can register your app idea and your team.

OR

2. You can nominate an app developer. By clicking on Nominate Developer button, you can send an invitation to a developer to nominate him/her to participate in this challenge.

A few things to keep in mind if you are participating in this challenge:

• Each team needs to have 2-6 members, at least one team member should be a resident of Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Tunisia.
• Team members should be over 18 years of age.
• The App idea should address a real need and be commercially sustainable.
• Each team is required to post a YouTube video with a maximum length of 2 minutes, in both Arabic and English, explaining what the App is about and how it solves a problem in one of the focus areas.

What can you WIN?

• First prize is $50,000
• Second Prize is $30,000
• Third Prize is $20,000

What else will you get?
All App team members will receive:

• Business support training
• Access to qualified mentors
• Networking opportunities
• Opportunity to pitch potential investors

COMPETITION’S STAGES, DATES, AND ROUNDS

HOW WILL THE APP TEAMS BE JUDGED & EVALUATED?

Teams are judged on how useful the mobile app is, the business model and the effectiveness of their presentation to the judges.

Judging and marking categories include:

• Housekeeping issues completed
• Problem addressed
• Completeness of the Mobile App
• Business model

SOME TIPS TO HELP YOU ALONG

• General Appeal: How much potential appeal is there to consumers, companies and professionals? Is it commercially, socially, politically, or personally appealing, relevant, or exciting?
• Essential Value & Utility: What is the level of indispensability and importance of the app?
• Innovation & Uniqueness: Is it freshly entertaining, or a new approach to an old problem, or a better way to do something efficiently/effectively/elegantly?
• Significance of "Problem" App Identifies/Solves: Estimate how compelling the app appears to be in solving a difficulty that has been painful previously.
• The App prototype: Try to ensure that you have a fully or partially operational prototype App at the various judging phases. The more complete the better.
• The App User Interface and Quality of Experience: Try to ensure a sense of clarity, simplicity, friendliness, and an intuitive feel of how the App works and what the user has to do next.

A more detailed document on the judging criteria will be sent to the judges and to all selected Arab Mobile App Team members once their mentors are assigned. Arab Mobile App Challenge (AMAC 2013) Terms and Conditions

BY SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION TO AMAC 2013 AND BY CLICKING “submit” AT THE END OF THE REGISTRATION FORM, THE TEAM MEMBER SUBMITTING THIS APPLICATION ATTESTS THAT HE/SHE ACCEPTS THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS (BOTH ON HIS/HER BEHALF AND ON BEHALF OF EACH TEAM MEMBER):

1. A “contestant” competing in AMAC 2013 will consist of teams meeting these criteria:
1. Your team must consist of at least two (2) and no more than six (6) people
2. At least one (1) member of your team must hold a passport or have proof of residency in one of the following locations: Qatar, KSA, UAE, Jordan or Tunisia
3. All members of your team must be over the age of eighteen (18)
2. The mobile app submitted by your team must relate to one or more of the following sectors:
1. Entertainment
2. Education
3. Health
4. Entrepreneurship/Employability
3. Factors that may be considered as it relates to your entry include:
1. Does the mobile app fill a void in the market place?
2. How effective will the app be in filling an existing gap in current mobile apps?
3. Is your mobile app commercially sustainable?
4. How many people will benefit from your mobile app and in what regions?
4. Each team member agrees and understands that their entry and participation in AMAC 2013 gives the organizers of AMAC, including Silatech, Applied Innovation Institute (“AII”), and Amazing Lab (“AL”) and their agents, representatives and contractors permission and full authority to use their name, likeness, and photograph in connection with the Arab Mobile App Challenge.
5. None of Silatech, AII or AL claim ownership rights in or title to intellectual property associated with your mobile app entry. However, by entering the Competition, you and your team grant and give to Silatech, AII, AL and each of AMAC 2013’s sponsors, hosts and partners the right to use, refer to, describe, photograph, film, and publish in any form and in any medium (as examples only, in print, websites, social media networks, television and signage) information, photographs, likenesses, diagrams, data, and any other materials or information relating to your mobile app for all purposes relating to the Arab Mobile App Challenge and the advertising, promotion and publicizing of AMAC 2013. This grant is provided without further notice, approval, or authorization from you or compensation to you.
6. Silatech, AII, and AL may share with third parties, including media and the general public, and place into the public domain, the name, likeness, data, and all other information concerning team members and the team’s mobile app entry. Teams are solely responsible for legal protection of their mobile app entry before submitting this application, including as it relates to intellectual property rights.
7. None of Silatech, AII or AL will be considered in violation of or infringing upon any trademark, copyright, patent or other intellectual property licenses, ownership rights or interests in and to the mobile app and all materials and information submitted to AMAC 2013 by your, your team members or your representatives at any time, including at any point after AMAC 2013 has concluded.
8. Each team member releases, indemnifies and holds harmless Silatech, AII, AL and their directors, employees, contractors and affiliates, as well as all partners, hosts and sponsors of AMAC 2013, from and against any and all liability, claims, causes of action, damages and judgments resulting from or in connection with the mobile app entry submitted by you or participation by you and your team members in AMAC 2013, including from and against alleged acts of wilful or other negligence, fraud, intellectual property infringements, omissions or misconduct, unless prohibited by law.
9. Failure to meet deadlines or miss any required events may result in disqualification of your team and your team’s mobile app entry.
10. Employees and consultants of Silatech, AII and AL and members of their immediate families are not eligible to enter AMAC 2013.
11. The laws of the State of Qatar apply to these Terms and Conditions and all aspects of AMAC 2013. In case of disputes, all matters will be resolved by arbitration, to be conducted by one (1) arbitrator, to be held in the English language, with the arbitration taking place in Doha, Qatar.

Contacts for the Arab Mobile App Challenge
[email protected]
[email protected]

Challenge Organizers
Silatech, The Gate, Tower 2, 14 Floor
P.O. Box 34111 - Doha, Qatar
T: +974 4499 4800
F: +974 4472 7651
www.silatech.com
Contact: Dana Shaddad
Email: [email protected]

Country Host - Qatar
Carnegie Mellon University
www.qatar.cmu.edu
Contact: Government and Corporate Affairs
Email: [email protected]
T: +974 4454-8400

Country Host - Saudi Arabia
TaM Development LLC
www.tamhub.com
Contact: Asmaa Khan
Email: [email protected]
T: +966 555 355 155

Country Host - UAE
Impact Hub Dubai
Contact Person: Hebah Fisher
Email: [email protected]
T: +971559808228
www.the-hub.ae

Country Host - Jordan
Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship
www.qrce.org
Contact: Heba Othman
Email: [email protected]
T: +962 6 515 4892

Country Host - Tunisia
High School of Telecommunications of Tunis (Sup’Com)
City of Communications Technologies,
Contact: Dr. Fatma Abdelkefi, Associate Professor
Email: [email protected]

Social Media Details
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