Stuttgart, January 17, 2012 – From a professional translation service for Facebook messages to the first mobile payment system for bars and restaurants using only iPhones: the CODE_n finalists came up with some surprising and innovative solutions for all aspects of our mobile lives. From over 400 entries, the best 50 innovators have now been invited to present their ideas to industry experts at the CeBIT 2012 – in centrally located Hall 16, which has been specially designed by leading artists. A top-class jury will select the winner of the CODE_n Award, which is to be presented during the world’s largest technology fair on March 8, 2012. The first innovative examples will be presented at today’s CeBIT preview in Munich.

“We are delighted with the rich variety and quality of the CODE_n entries,” says Ulrich Dietz, the competition’s initiator and CEO of GFT Technologies AG. More than 400 young companies, start-ups, pioneers and avant-garde thinkers from 42 countries took the opportunity to enter their business ideas on the topic “Shaping Mobile Life”. 50 of them have now been selected to present their apps, services or technical innovations to visitors at the CeBIT 2012. The ideas include a Collaborative Web Service for live customer advice in online shops, and a story-telling tool that links places with stories based on user-generated content. “We were both amazed and amused by some of the ideas and it was certainly no easy task to select the top 50,” says Dietz in his summary of the initial selection process. He is now looking forward to meeting the people behind the chosen ideas.

A jury of experts, including Gabriele Fischer (brand eins), Lars Hinrichs (HackFwd), Carsten Knop (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Paulus Neef (PQuadra), Jens-Uwe Sauer (Seedmatch), Dr. Joseph Reger (Fujitsu) and Prof. Peter Weibel (ZKM), will draw up a short list of the ten top innovators for the final stage. On the third day of the fair, March 8, the winner of the EUR 25,000 CODE_n Award will then be chosen from this short list of candidates.

CODE_n will also feature a radical visual backdrop – the like of which has never been seen at the world’s leading digital economy event. Artist Tobias Rehberger and architect Jürgen Mayer H. have blended art and technology to create a unique Innovation Space in the 3,500 square-meter Hall 16 – providing the perfect setting for the CODE_n finalists and a platform for inspiration, dialogue and business.

The competition’s partners will also be showcasing their products and services. In addition to GFT Technologies AG, the global innovation initiative is being supported by Ernst & Young, Fujitsu Technology Solutions, Deutsche Messe AG, industry association BITKOM and the Karlsruhe-based ZKM.

Further information on CODE_n is available at www.code-n.org


About CODE_n

CODE_n is an international initiative for fresh ideas in the field of IT and the internet. The network aims to bring together the sector’s brightest minds and smartest ideas, to provide ongoing support and to harness this force field for the seeding and fast breeding of new innovations. CODE_n stands for “Code of the New”, the DNA of innovation. The initiator is GFT Technologies AG, an international supplier of IT solutions and services. The partners include Deutsche Messe AG, Ernst & Young, Fujitsu Technologies Solutions, BITKOM and the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (ZKM). The media partners of CODE_n are brand eins, Computerwoche, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, MOBILE BUSINESS, t3n and VentureCapital Magazin. In 2012, CODE_n will be presenting the first CODE_n Award to a highly innovative IT-based solution for mobile life. The winner will receive prize money of EUR 25,000 as well as coaching from the initiative’s strategic partner over a two-year period. Further information is available on the Internet at www.code-n.org.