GSMA Partners with Rutberg and Company for 2010 Mobile Innovation Grand Prix – Americas Tournament

Open call for entries for Americas round of the global innovation competition culminating in awards on December 1st 2009

The GSMA announced that the Americas Tournament, which is the final round of its 2010 Mobile Innovation Grand Prix competition, is now open for entry. The GSMA has partnered with Rutberg & Company, a leading research-centric investment bank, to host this leg of the competition at the firm’s Future:Mobile 2009 event taking place on December 1st 2009. In addition to the Grand Prix competition, the GSMA will host a full-day, dedicated track of conference sessions that will focus on mobile innovation and will highlight key issues and opportunities facing the mobile communications industry. Attendance for Future:Mobile 2009 is limited to 200 invited senior executives who are responsible for innovation assessment and adoption, strategic partnerships, investments, and acquisitions within their organisations.

“For many years innovation has been at the core of the mobile industry and this year’s Americas Tournament will provide an invaluable opportunity for companies to pitch their innovative mobile products, services and applications to senior executives from across the mobile ecosystem,” said Bill Gajda, Chief Commercial Officer at the GSMA. “With the calibre of experienced industry professionals that attend Rutberg & Company’s industry events, I am sure we will see a lively and compelling debate focused on how new mobile products and services are developed and brought to market successfully.”

“We are pleased to announce Future:Mobile 2009 and our partnership with the GSMA,” states John Mecklenburg, Chief Operating Officer, Rutberg & Company. “There is a significant need to facilitate productive business interaction around private companies and innovation in our industry. Garnering the right constituency of decision-makers, plus analysis-based content produced by Rutberg’s research team, creates a valuable platform for executives to examine growth and opportunity in wireless, and for doing real business.”

The Mobile Innovation Grand Prix competition was created by the GSMA with the primary goal of showcasing promising entrepreneurs from small and medium-sized companies introducing innovative new products and services to market. During the Americas Tournament, entrants will be reviewed by a judging panel comprised of senior executives from mobile operators and VC firms. Up to ten companies will be selected to present and two overall winners will win a trip to compete for the Mobile Innovation Grand Prix title, part of the GSMA’s Global Mobile Awards, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2010.

Mobile Innovation Exchange
To compete in the regional tournaments of the Mobile Innovation Grand Prix, innovators must be a member of the GSMA’s Mobile Innovation Exchange. The Mobile Innovation Exchange is an online community whose focus is to promote mobile innovation and builds on the success of the regional events. The Mobile Innovation Exchange portal facilitates year-round dialogue, deal-making, partnering and consensus building across all the elements of the mobile ecosystem.

The Future:Mobile 2009 event will take place at the Sofitel Hotel San Francisco on December 1st 2009. For more information please visit: www.rutbergco.com/conferences/future-mobile-2009.

For more information on the GSMA’s Mobile Innovation Americas Event and the Mobile Innovation Exchange, please visit: www.mobileinnovation.org/events/americas2010
& www.mobileinnovation.org.

 

About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Spanning 219 countries and territories, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA is focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its membership, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile communications industry. For more information, please visit: http://www.gsmworld.com/

Press contacts:
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