Freedom Toaster in the Stockholm challenge

The Freedom Toaster project has been invited to the prestigious Stockholm Challenge awards for IT projects in 2006. The Toaster is one of the projects selected globally for the finals of the challenge taking place from 8 to 11 May in Stockholm, Sweden.

“This is the world’s most prestigious award for IT projects,” enthuses Jason Hudson, founder of the Freedom Toaster project.

“Previously known as the Global Bangemann Challenge, the Stockholm Challenge showcases the best and brightest innovations in information technology, presenting the top projects with the Stockholm Challenge Award.”

The Stockholm Challenge was created in 1993 to mark Sweden’s entry into the European Union. Driven by the will to compete on an equal footing with the pace of technological change in the US, the challenge was initially confined to European nations. However, the awards are now competed for globally. Cities and regions from across all continents present their best IT projects and an international jury of senior experts has the task of choosing winners in each of the challenge’s 11 categories.

“The Challenge searches for the best initiatives that accelerate the use of information technology for the social and economic benefit of citizens and communities,” says Hudson. “The objective is to help local entrepreneurs, who
work to close the digital divide, by bringing in research communities, development organisations and strong corporate initiatives.“We were very proud to have the administrators at the Stockholm Challenge ask us to enter in September last year,” he adds.

The Freedom Toaster has been selected for the education category at the challenge where it will compete against 172 other projects from across the globe. “We will be up against some highly innovative and inspired projects in our
category,” explains Hudson, “and it will also be a great opportunity for the Freedom Toaster team to interact with other developers from all over the world. The proceedings will see us engage with other finalists in a series of workshops leading up to the awards ceremony. We expect that others will want to replicate our project in their countries, as a result of this interaction.” Hudson concludes that these opportunities mean that just being nominated for the Challenge is already a significant achievement, “Just being in the finals is a big boost for the project,” he says. “It gives the project credibility on the global stage and allows for this fantastic engagement with other projects. Winning the award would just be a bonus.”