Microsoft India has launched a one-of-its-kind contest for independent software vendors (ISVs) and technology start-ups that are expected to result in the creation of over 100 applications (apps) and solutions for businesses and governments in six months. The contest is supported by an elite panel of organizations, including National Informatics Centre (NIC) of the Government of India, NASSCOM, TiE, Nokia, Nokia App Campus, Intel and Barrier Break.
ISVs and technology start-ups can win nine awards in four categories - Enterprise, MSME, Government Enablement and Citizen Services. Special credit will be given to apps and solutions that are accessible to differently-abled people and/or are created to promote social good. An NIC-backed, special award is earmarked for the "Best solution for social good using Open Gov Data". 56 Indian government departments and ministries recently opened their data sets to the public and NIC is encouraging ISVs to develop applications using these data sets.
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Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd., said, "With the proliferation of devices and cloud-based services, governments, businesses and other organizations are seeking to interact with customers, partners and other stakeholders securely and reliably. There is an opportunity to create commercial apps beyond the traditional ERP and other transactional systems."
Registration for the Code for Honor competition is now open. The contest will run between December 2013 and June 2014.
