IoT projects that can demonstrate social benefit can enter the IoT Social Impact Award, a competition jointly run by the IoT M2M Council (IMC), FloLive and Quectel Wireless.

The award will recognise IoT projects that combine not only innovation but also demonstrate significant social benefit. Open to all from solo developers and start-ups to large enterprises, the award will assess IoT projects in public health, human rights, marine and wildlife conservation, environmental and corporate sustainability, education, clean and sustainable energy, hunger and food insecurity, social and economic development, and improving accessibility.

Entries opened on 4 October 2021 and the deadline for submitting an entry is 26 November, with judging closing on 20 December. The IoT Social Impact Award shortlist will be announced on 6 January 2022 with the winner selected by industry voting. Voting will close on 18 February 2022 with the winner announced on 1 March 2022.

The judging panel includes: Tom Rebbeck, partner at Analysys Mason; Anne Hoyer, strategic advisor in digital innovation; Alexander Bufalino, vice president of marketing at Quectel Wireless; Rony Cohen, head of business development at FloLive; Keith Kreisher, executive director of the IMC; Robin Duke Woolley, CEO of Beecham Research; Dan Shey, vice president at ABI Research; and Tracy Hopkins, global IoT evangelist and executive business consultant.

Shortlisted entries will receive a free FloLive and Quectel kit that will help them build their PoC project. The kit will include a Quectel EVB kit and ten FloLive SIM cards with 1Gbyte for a year per SIM card included.

The winner will receive 500 SIM cards with 1Gbyte per SIM card a year from FloLive and a free subscription to its FloNet platform. In addition, the IMC will provide the winner with full coverage across all their marketing platforms reaching over 53,000 IoT professionals.

“We’re delighted to have partnered with FloLive and the IMC to recognise the IoT projects that are having the greatest social impact in IoT,” said Bufalino. “IoT has always been an innovative industry and has turned this development expertise into creating a smarter world but the focus is often on the business benefits of IoT. We’re proud to be launching the IoT Social Impact Award to help demonstrate how companies are achieving real social benefits from IoT deployments across the globe.”

He said the award has a great panel of judges and some outstanding prizes to offer to shortlisted companies and the eventual winner of this inaugural award.

“It’s great to have expert judges from across the industry and to bring the entire IoT sector together to vote on the award’s first winner,” he said. “I’m sure we’re going to see an exciting range of innovative projects from companies large and small that show just how far IoT has come and how far it will go in improving society for everyone.”

To see more information about the Social Impact Award, please visit: www.iotsocialimpact.com