WASHINGTON and OVERLAND PARK, Kan., March 21, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- National Geographic and Sprint are proud to announce
Asha Gummadi as the winner of the
"CHASING GENIUS: Unlimited Innovation" challenge, which aimed at
inspiring innovative ideas focused on wireless connectivity and the
network of the future. Based in Philadelphia, Asha
Gummadi garnered the most votes on the CHASING GENIUS
platform for her idea on Empowering Tele Rehabilitation with
Digital Connectivity, and will receive $25,000 to take her vision further.
The CHASING GENIUS: Unlimited Innovation challenge began in
January as the second challenge in National Geographic's growing
CHASING GENIUS franchise, a groundbreaking digital initiative built
on the premise that transformational ideas can come from anywhere,
and from anyone. Inspiring people all over the globe, the CHASING
GENIUS community unleashed more than one thousand potential
solutions to leverage technology and the power of connectivity to
imagine a better world.
Asha's project is a smartphone app that allows doctors to
digitally prescribe physical therapy exercises to patients in
developing countries who can't easily access rehab centers or
treatment. To ensure patients can learn their exercises remotely,
the app demonstrates each movement via detailed animations, and
allows patients to choose their own language for instructions. A
neurological physical therapist, Asha was inspired to create the
app after she could not effectively recommend exercises to her
mother due to a language barrier, and after her grandfather
couldn't access much-needed rehab services in rural India. Learn more about Asha's
idea HERE.
Launched last spring, the CHASING GENIUS platform brings
together a community of active, aspirational, socially conscious
consumers who want to make a positive difference in the world.
Through the platform, challenges are presented to the community in
an effort to foster and grow innovative ideas around some of the
most pressing issues facing our planet.
Since the challenge began, the CHASING GENIUS community has
grown to 35,000 members. The concept of transformational ideas and
CHASING GENIUS reverberated across social, digital and broadcast
media and generated more than 100 million impressions, seven
million content views, and 229,000* social
conversations.
During the submissions phase, the community was highly engaged —
sharing ideas, offering feedback, asking questions, and flagging
favorites. The submissions were then evaluated on four criteria to
find the most inspiring, innovative, creative, and viable ideas.
After the members of the CHASING GENIUS: Unlimited Innovation
Council determined the top 10 finalists, the CHASING GENIUS
community cast their votes to elect the winning idea.
"By way of this CHASING GENIUS challenge -- and those that will
follow -- we want to prove to consumers around the world that the
term 'explorer' isn't confined to one meaning. It's the curiosity,
creativity and perseverance put into each submission that sparks
the explorer in each of us," said Claudia
Malley, executive vice president, partner solutions,
National Geographic. "Our work here with Sprint has proven that
theory and has shown us that transformative ideas can truly come
from anyone, and anywhere."
"We all have the ability to be a catalyst for positive global
change, and it was inspiring to see so many people share their
passion for technology and innovation through the National
Geographic Chasing Genius platform," said Dr. John Saw, Chief
Technology Officer, Sprint. "We congratulate all of the finalists,
along with Asha Gummadi, and we
can't wait to see where their ideas take them next."
Council members who played a role in reviewing submissions
include Eric Berkenpas, engineer and
Sr. Director of Exploration Technology at National Geographic;
Victoria Jaggard, Online Science and
Innovation News Editor for National Geographic; Tan Le, Founder & CEO of EMOTIV; Dr. John
Saw, Sprint CTO; and Albert
Yu-Min-Lin, research scientist and engineer focused on
technology-enabled exploration and crowdsourcing. Select council
members have been chosen for their ability to make the impossible
possible and for their visions of making the world a better
place.
For a comprehensive look at submissions, follow the link
here:http://www.natgeochasinggenius.com/videos
*Potential Reach is provided by Spredfast times 5% (estimated
reach), based on #ChasingGenius and other program qualifiers
CHASING GENIUS is inspired by National Geographic's
Emmy-nominated series, "Genius" which will once again be
supported across National Geographic platforms, including the May
cover of National Geographic magazine, travel, social, digital, and
other platforms. Season two, premiering April 24th, will chronicle the life of another
renowned mastermind and tell the untold narrative of the person
behind the genius — this time, focusing on Pablo Picasso.
About National Geographic Partners LLC
National
Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National
Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world
premium science, adventure and exploration content across an
unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global
National Geographic television channels (National Geographic
Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National
Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National
Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital
and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and
ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and
events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses.
Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the
core purpose of National Geographic for 130 years, and now we are
committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for
our consumers…and reaching millions of people around the world in
172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns
27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic
Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration,
conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com
or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications
services company that creates more and better ways to connect
its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint
served 54.6 million connections as of December 31, 2017 and is widely recognized for
developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies,
including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in
the United States; leading
no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless;
instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a
global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Today, Sprint's legacy of
innovation and service continues with an increased investment to
dramatically improve coverage, reliability, and speed across its
nationwide network and commitment to launching the
first 5G mobile network in the U.S. You can learn
more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint
and www.twitter.com/sprint.
View original content with
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-geographic-and-sprint-announce-winner-of-chasing-genius-unlimited-innovation----awards-25000-prize-to-turn-idea-into-catalyst-for-change-in-the-world-300617894.html
SOURCE National Geographic