Verizon announces winners of “Powerful Answers” campaign, gives away $10 million

While T-Mobile continued on its task to blaze new trails as part of its “un-carrier” campaign, Verizon took a completely different approach to its press event at CES 2014 on Wednesday. America’s largest carrier launched a campaign to find powerful answers to “the world’s biggest challenges.” Verizon sought to gather ideas from developers and technologists around the world to see innovative new ways to improve sectors of education, sustainability, and healthcare.

To attract the talent, Verizon had $10 million in the till to give away to 15 companies that came up with the most impactful and dynamic solutions to confront the challenges facing societies today. First place in each category earned the winning company $1 million. Second place got $850,000; third $700,000; fourth $500,000 and fifth $285,000.

We got to talk with the winning companies following the press event. The solutions are impressive and have practical applications for established as well as developing markets. These are not new games set to take the world by storm, but amazing applications and products that stand to make a real and lasting impact on the world.

Check out our video summaries of each winning company for their respective category below: