Revelling in its wireless success to date, Westminster has launched a competition that challenges people to create an innovative application to run on the new network that will benefit individuals, businesses or other groups.
The Wireless City Pioneers competition officially kicked off this week at Wireless Cities UK, which is part of The Wireless Event being held at Olympia.
Working with partners BT and Vertex, the city hopes to stimulate thought and creativity about how wireless technology can be used to enhance things or solve real problems. The winning entry will then be turned from vision to reality by its designer and the three parties running the competition, which ends in November.
Westminster is asking participants to focus on one of three award categories. The first, the Wireless Living award, be go to the application design that best reflects how wireless technology can benefit an individual's daily routine.
The second, the Wireless Neighbourhood award, will focus on the community benefits, such as enhancing care for elderly people in their homes or making street cleaning more efficient.
Finally, the third category, the Wireless Business award, will look at how a wireless city can benefit a new or established business, for example by aiding the collection of customer feedback or an application to boost marketing promotion activity.
"We are hoping for people to put forward their most imaginative, yet realistic, ideas for Westminster's wireless city," said Councillor Daniel Astaire, Cabinet Member for Customer and Community Services.
"With our groundbreaking project, entrants are only limited by the extent of their imagination. We are therefore asking ideas which could benefit Westminster's housing states, residents, tourists, entertainment seekers and visitors to the West End, shoppers on Oxford Street, or even local business networks. Winning entrants will walk away with a cash prize and, if a strong enough business case is put forward, the idea could even be rolled out across the city in 2008."
