Orange launch developer competition in 13 countries in Europe, Africa and Middle East

(Agence Ecofin) - The French telecommunications company Orange has just launched an international developer contest. 13 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East will be represented. The goal is to support technology startups in the creation of added value services and to promote innovation. Developers from France, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Congo, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Cameroon and Botswana exclusively are allowed to participate in the competition.

Registration for the 2015 edition will be open from 3rd August till 15 September 2015. In a press release, Orange clarified that "ten start-ups will be selected from each country to take part in the competition which concludes by the end October. Orange will make available to the contestants three APIs (SMS, USSD et Direct Operator Billing) accessible from a testing platform. Each of the 13 countries will choose a winning project and an overall winner". The top developer will be awarded a price of €10,000 at the end of November 2015.

Orange indicated that for start-ups from Cameroon, Congo, Guinea, Niger and Senegal, the company will provide access, for the first time, to its API SMS created by the group's Technocentre and the Orange Labs. This will allow the startups from the relevant countries to quickly program new services based on SMS.

Justifying the merits of the launch of this developers competition at the international level, Marc Rennard, executive manager for Africa-Middle East and Asia, explained that "over 100 million of our clients are in Africa and the Middle East,  where the mobile internet use and the spread of smartphones are in rapid expansion. The region is ready for innovation and we want to take part in this open innovation movement which will have a significant and growing effect on the lives of Africans".