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Open Innovation Challenge’16 Eyes IoT for Connected automotive, e-Health

Nokia has launched its Open Innovation Challenge for the fourth year running, focusing now on the Internet of Things (IoT) for public safety, connected automotive, industry 4.0, digital health, utilities, security and smart cities.
The challenge is being organized in partnership with private venture firm Nokia Growth Partners, which this year announced a USD 350 million fund for investments in IoT companies.
In the coming years, IoT will bring novel ways to simplify people’s lives, make industries more efficient and bring new business opportunities for operators and enterprises. Bell Labs Consulting recently predicted that the number of IoT connected devices is expected to top 46 billion by 2020.
All these connected devices will drive diverse IoT use cases including smart cities that will be more sustainable; smarter and faster healthcare and public safety applications that will save lives; and more responsive and intuitive smart grid networks.
The Nokia Open Innovation Challenge 2016 is a call for the next big ideas and new business models for these exciting IoT domains. During the challenge, entries will be assessed by Nokia and industry experts for their innovation, impact and business potential.
The winners will be able to join Nokia’s Innovation Accelerator Program to incubate their ideas within Nokia, access Nokia’s global market and network with investors. In addition, the top three teams will share incubation prize money of up to 100,000 euros.
Submissions will be accepted between June 6 and August 15, after which they will be assessed and the top fifteen teams will be invited to a two-day concept development workshop with Nokia experts in Paris in October. The final judging and the awards ceremony will be held right after the workshop.
The Nokia Open Innovation Challenge is open to all innovators, start ups, organizations, academia and individuals across the world who are developing the technologies of the future to improve lives and able to demonstrate a working prototype for their idea.
“Digitalization is the next industrial revolution, and the automation of everything will drive the next phase of human possibilities,” said Marc Rouanne, Chief Innovation and Operating Officer for Nokia. “The Nokia Open Innovation Challenge 2016 is looking for the next best ideas for connecting people and things. For innovators and start ups, it is a great opportunity to tap Nokia’s global presence and meet venture firms to see how we can work together to build tomorrow’s technologies that will help save lives, improve our environment and make our lives better,” he continued.
Bo Ilsoe, managing partner of Nokia Growth Partners, said: “Aside from the grand prize, the Nokia Open Innovation Challenge is a unique gateway for IoT companies to access new potential partnerships, meet investors, receive advice on their business ideas and meet fellow entrepreneurs. We are pleased to sponsor the competition once again.”
Nokia’s vision is to expand the human possibilities of technology to improve people’s lives, helping them thrive by enabling a programmable world where billions of people, things, sensors and devices are connected. At Mobile World Congress 2016, Nokia outlined its approach for leading the development of next-generation 5G and IoT technologies which includes a diversified portfolio of applications, platforms, security solutions, connectivity solutions and services across numerous industry verticals. IoT use cases are paving the way for the adoption of future technologies like 5G.
News
Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

Elon Musk is poised to become the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX, his company, confirmed plans to go public.

Elon Musk
Because Musk owns the majority of the shares, it could push his net worth over the trillion dollar mark.
The entrepreneur is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI.
Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025; as of May 2026, Forbes estimates his net worth to be $788 billion.
SpaceX has filed for a blockbuster public listing in the United States, paving the way for what could become the largest stock market debut in Wall Street history.
The company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, announced plans to begin trading under the ticker symbol “SPCX” as early as next month.
The listing values SpaceX at about $1.25 trillion, with Musk’s majority ownership potentially worth more than $600 billion alone.
Combined with his existing holdings in companies including Tesla, the IPO could push Musk’s personal wealth above the $1 trillion mark.
The long-awaited filing also offered investors a rare look into SpaceX’s finances.
The company reported $18.6 billion in revenue last year but recorded a net loss of $4.9 billion. In the first quarter of this year, SpaceX generated $4.7 billion in sales while posting a $4.3 billion net loss.
Financial disclosures showed the company holds $102 billion in assets, including rockets, launch infrastructure and satellite systems, while carrying debts totalling $60.5 billion.
Despite the losses, analysts suggested investors were unlikely to be deterred given SpaceX’s dominance in commercial space launches and satellite internet services.
Ruth Foxe-Blader, managing partner at Citrine Venture Partners, described the planned flotation as “extremely exciting.”
“SpaceX is just an absolutely sprawling, enormous project with so many different selling points, and so many points that really point to the future,” she said.
SpaceX operates the Starlink satellite internet network and also owns Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI.
The IPO filing revealed that xAI recently reached a major commercial agreement with rival AI company Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot.
Under the arrangement, Anthropic will reportedly pay $15 billion annually to access data centre infrastructure linked to xAI operations in the American South.
The filing also disclosed that SpaceX expects to incur more than half a billion dollars in legal costs from multiple ongoing lawsuits and regulatory disputes.
Among the cases listed were claims alleging that xAI’s chatbot Grok had been used to create sexualised deepfakes of women and girls, alongside patent infringement disputes, music copyright claims, data breach allegations and investigations into compliance with European Union content moderation rules.
Musk has previously said he plans to dissolve xAI as a standalone company and pursue his AI ambitions directly under SpaceX.
The filing came shortly after Musk lost a high-profile legal battle against OpenAI and its chief executive Sam Altman.
Musk had accused OpenAI of abandoning its non-profit mission after shifting towards a commercial model, but a jury dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that he had waited too long to bring the claims.
News
Moniepoint Boosts UK Payments Security

African financial services platform Moniepoint has partnered with open banking software-as-a-service provider tell.money to deploy a transaction security system in the UK market.

The companies said the partnership will allow Moniepoint to implement Confirmation of Payee, an account name-checking service designed to verify recipient details before payments are processed.
The integration will be rolled out through Monieworld, Moniepoint’s UK remittance subsidiary, as part of the company’s broader European expansion strategy.
Tell.money will provide the underlying verification technology, which the companies said is intended to reduce misdirected payments and help protect users against cross-border fraud.
Ravi Jakhodia, CEO of Monieworld, said: “Our goal with Monieworld is to build financial services for Africans in the diaspora.”
He added that tell.money was selected because it manages compliance and accreditation requirements, allowing the fintech company to focus on customer service.
Moniepoint is entering a competitive UK-to-Africa remittance market that includes established providers such as Wise, WorldRemit and Remitly, as well as African fintech firms including Flutterwave’s Send App.
According to data from the World Bank’s KNOMAD programme, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are estimated at about $620 billion annually, with digital -first platforms capturing increasing market share through open banking integrations and automated compliance systems.
The rollout reflects a broader trend of African fintech firms expanding into developed markets by adopting local regulatory and open banking standards.
Industry analysts expect diaspora-focused platforms to evolve beyond money transfers into services such as multi-currency banking, credit and investment products.
News
Meet the 39-Year-Old Genius Replacing Oloyede at JAMB

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed 39‑year‑old Professor Segun Aina as the new Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), succeeding Professor Is‑haq Oloyede whose two‑term tenure expires on July 31, 2026.

Professor Segun Aina
Aina, who will turn 40 in July, will become the youngest registrar in JAMB’s history, marking a generational shift in the leadership of Nigeria’s premier tertiary‑admissions body.
In a statement issued in Abuja by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the new registrar was described as a distinguished academic and systems expert with extensive experience in national examination systems, digital infrastructure and public‑sector institutional reform.
A professor of Computer Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile‑Ife, Aina holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Kent, an MSc in Internet Computing and Network Security and a PhD in Digital Signal Processing, both from Loughborough University, United Kingdom. He also completed the Senior Management Programme at Lagos Business School.
His early career with JAMB began during his National Youth Service Corps scheme, where he gained foundational experience in national admissions and data‑driven institutional processes; those insights have since shaped his contributions to examination reform and systems optimisation.
At 39, Aina became one of Nigeria’s youngest professors of Computer Engineering and has advised federal and state governments on system design, digital transition and operational reform, while also consulting major examination bodies such as NECO and NABTEB on ICT systems and examination integrity.
He is a member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
President Tinubu expects Aina to leverage his experience, knowledge and practical insight to further strengthen JAMB’s operations and to build on the achievements recorded under Professor Oloyede’s leadership.
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