The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) is pleased to announce the start of the second Bluetooth Innovation World Cup (IWC). After a successful first year of the competition in 2009, the trade organization is once again calling on developers, entrepreneurs and students to submit concepts for applications making use of the new Bluetooth low energy wireless technology. The 2010 Bluetooth Innovation World Cup will focus on applications for the sports & fitness, healthcare, and home information and control markets.

“Bluetooth Version 4.0, which introduces low energy technology, offers an enormous potential for the development of innovative wireless solutions within a very wide application range,” said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. “The specification offers a global standard for obtaining and measuring real-time performance data that can be transmitted directly to the Internet via the mobile phone, which is without a doubt the most important mobile information hub of the future. Through the Bluetooth Innovation World Cup, the Bluetooth SIG is fostering the imagination and creativity of developers seeking to create innovative new devices and to enhance existing Bluetooth technology applications.”

How to Submit

Innovators from all over the world can submit their concepts through the online IWC database. Submissions will be accepted from June 1 through September 15, 2010. Concepts will be evaluated based on the criteria available at the competition web site. The concepts of the three finalists for each of the three categories will be presented at the electronica Trade Fair in November 2010. The official award ceremony will take place at ISPO 11 in February 2011, where the Innovator of the Year 2010 will receive a prize of $5,000 USD, a Bluetooth Qualification Program voucher (QDID) worth an additional USD $5-10,000 USD, and Bluetooth SIG marketing support.

Last Year’s Winner

“Since winning the first Bluetooth Innovation World Cup in 2009, life has been truly fascinating,” said Edward Sazonov, Ph.D., Vice President Engineering, Physical Activity Innovations LLC. “We have further developed our winning idea, the Fit Companion. After a first, positive series of tests this spring, we are now ready for a final round of testing this summer. After that, the Fit Companion will be ready for extensive human trials, where we will continually refine the user interface so that people will be motivated to use the product every day to become more active.”

The capabilities of the Fit Companion product, including motivational feedback such as ‘you’ve been sitting for way too long’, to the actual calories they’ve expended during the day versus their plan, is sent through Bluetooth low energy technology to the user’s cell phone. “It’s a perfect product for people who need a little motivation to achieve a more active lifestyle that will help them lose weight, or maintain weight loss,” added Sazonov.

In May 2009, Physical Activity Innovations received a substantial SBIR grant from the National Science Foundation for research on its shoe sensor design. “This is great news, as it will help us get our product to market quickly,” said Sazonov.

Sponsors

The Bluetooth Innovation World Cup 2010 is sponsored by Anritsu Company (Preferred Technology Partner) and Nordic Semiconductors, ST Microelectronics, Texas Instruments and Suunto, with support by the Continua Health Alliance, which is dedicated to establishing a system of interoperable personal health solutions, ISPO, the world’s leading sporting goods trade show, the World Federation of Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) and electronica, the world’s leading trade fair for components, systems and applications.

“Anritsu is the leading supplier of instruments to test the quality of products manufactured with Bluetooth technology. As a key member of the Bluetooth SIG since 1999, Anritsu has actively participated in the development of the standard from its inception,” said Peter George, Business Manager - Short Range Wireless for Anritsu. “We will continue to be an active part of upcoming test solutions and want to manifest this through our involvement in the Bluetooth Innovation World Cup.”

For more information on the competition, please visit the Innovation World Cup web site.

About Bluetooth® Wireless Technology

Bluetooth wireless technology is the global short-range wireless standard for personal connectivity of a broad range of electronic devices. The technology continues to evolve, building on its inherent strengths – small-form factor radio, low power, low cost, built-in security, robustness, ease-of-use, and ad hoc networking abilities. This evolution now provides manufacturers and consumers with three options for connecting wirelessly – Classic Bluetooth technology for use in a wide range of consumer electronics; Bluetooth high speed technology for the transfer of video, music and photos between phones, cameras, camcorders, PCs and TVs; and Bluetooth low energy technology for low power sensor devices and new web services within the healthcare, fitness, security, home entertainment, automotive and automation industries. More than eight new Bluetooth enabled products are qualified every working day and more than 19 million Bluetooth units are shipping per week. There are nearly three billion Bluetooth devices in the marketplace and that number climbs daily, making it the only proven wireless choice for developers, product manufacturers, and consumers worldwide.

About Bluetooth low energy Wireless Technology

Bluetooth low energy technology is a new low energy enhancement to the Bluetooth Core Specification that paves the way to a vast new market for watches, remote controls, and healthcare and sports sensors. It has the potential to communicate with the hundreds of millions of Bluetooth enabled mobile phones, PCs and PDAs that are shipped each year. Consuming minimal power, it offers long-lasting connectivity, dramatically extending the range of potential applications and opening the door to brand new web services. Bluetooth low energy technology features ultra-low peak, average and idle mode power consumption; ultra-low cost plus small size for accessories and human interface devices (HIDs); minimal cost and size addition to handsets and PCs; global, intuitive and secure multi-vendor interoperability.

About the Bluetooth SIG

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), comprised of leaders in the telecommunications, computing, consumer electronics, automotive and network industries, is driving development of Bluetooth wireless technology and bringing it to market. The Bluetooth SIG includes Promoter member companies Ericsson, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia and Toshiba, along with over 13,000 Associate and Adopter member companies. The Bluetooth SIG, Inc. headquarters are located in Kirkland, Washington, U.S.A. For more information please visit www.bluetooth.com.

The Bluetooth word mark and logo are registered trademarks and are owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc.

Note to Editors: Media assets (stills and video) to accompany stories about Bluetooth wireless technology are available on Bluetooth.com, hosted by The NewsMarket: http://www.bluetooth.com/thenewsmarket.