Awards and challenges
Several challenges throughout Orange OpenTech illustrate the strategy of Orange for open innovation across its ecosystem.
- Wednesday, 27 November: the awards for the New Space Challenge for start-ups to work with Orange on innovative solutions using satellite networks.
- Wednesday, 27 November: the final of the science communication contest My thesis in 3 minutes.
- Thursday, 28 November: the Network API Hackathon, allowing both beginner and experienced developers to create innovative applications using standardised network APIs based on the GSMA Open Gateway initiative and the open-source CAMARA project, to which Orange is a contributor.
Non-terrestrial and hybrid networks are essential for Orange, to capitalise on existing infrastructure by developing new capabilities for our networks and to improve customer experience by providing extensive and seamless network coverage for both B2C and B2B customers. This challenge, under the banner of Open Innovation, provides Orange with the opportunity to experiment with new solutions for its satellite services. Start-ups, in turn, benefit from a platform where they can test and commercialise their innovations. The proposed solutions must be innovative and commercially viable, and must support the Sustainable Development Goals. Awarded participants will gain visibility at technology events, collaboration opportunities and support from Orange Fab.
The winning start-ups are:
- Constellation Technologies & Operations
- Greenerwave
- Kinéis
- Leanspace
- Ternwaves
At Orange, we believe that gender diversity is a powerful driver of economic and social performance, as well as a source of innovation. Gender equality has been at the heart of our strategy for nearly 20 years, governed by dedicated governance and internal policies. This programme has reached nearly 40,000 young girls and women worldwide. This policy has resulted in women holding nearly 36% of positions at the company overall, and about 25% for technical and digital professions.
My thesis in 3 minutes aims to make Orange’s research and innovation more accessible and attractive by making science understandable. To this end, a competition has been set up for 2nd and 3rd year PhD students at Orange Innovation. The competition encourages young researchers to present their work in a clear and engaging way, in order to pique the interest of the general public and industry professionals.
The final of the competition took place on 27 November and featured eight finalists selected for the quality and originality of their presentations.
- eight finalists
- two jury prizes
- one public prize
Thank you to everyone who participated in the public vote.
The winners are:
- Jury prize: Aminata Coly and Lucas Darlavoix
- Public prize: Jeanne Monnier
Congratulations!
Jean Bolot, Director of Research at Orange, reflects on the “My Thesis in 3 Minutes” competition, and the winners Aminata Coly, Lucas Darlavoix, and Jeanne Monnier share their experiences.
The aim of the event is to enable participants to develop advanced solutions using standardised interfaces.
Participants will have the opportunity to work on a number of areas, including fraud prevention through APIs that enhance application security, and the implementation of location-based services such as geofencing and location verification. In addition, optimising network quality will be a central issue, particularly for applications requiring low latency. Winners will benefit from coaching by Orange experts, meetings with executives and mentors, and much more at Orange OpenTech on 28 November.
Prizes:
- 1st prize: individual passes to Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona.
- 2nd prize: three individual passes to VivaTech 2025.
- 3rd prize: three individual passes to APIDays 2024 in Paris.
The winning teams will also have the opportunity to test their solutions in the Orange 5G laboratory, with the support of experts.