Airtel Ghana, in collaboration with IBM has held a mobile technology innovation competition for university students at the University of Ghana, Legon. The competition was designed to give students the opportunity to generate innovative ideas on how to monetize the mobile platform to create technological products. Out of 20 selected ideas, the idea of Divine Puplampu, a third year Computer Science student was adjudged the best. Divine would embark on a fully paid round trip to the Airtel Innovation Discovery Africa Workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. Divine’s idea was dubbed ‘Check It’ – a system which will enable users of foods, drugs and drinks take pictures of their products or send details to a designated short code to confirm their authenticity. He said he was proud his ‘Check It’ idea appealed to the panel of judges adding that, "I am excited to have won this award and I look forward to representing Ghana in the Mobile Innovation Competition in Nairobi. Divine said he was looking forward to being a part of the Digital Generation Panel Discussion in Kenya. The 19 other students received one year data subscription from Airtel and paraphernalia from IBM. Country General Manager for IBM Ghana, Joe Mensah said “this competition reinforces IBM’s commitment to skills and talent development in Africa.” He added that IBM recognized the significant role that mobile technology played in driving national development and “we have partnered with our client Airtel to build skills and recognize emerging talent among Ghanaian youth to enhance Ghana's competitiveness in the global economy.” Managing Director of Airtel Ghana, Philip Sowah said “we have seen an upsurge in innovations around mobile money technology in Africa and this competition provides an opportunity to create potential employment for university graduates in Ghana”. He added that the innovation in mobile technology workshop offered an opportunity to showcase youth leadership and creativity in job creation while growing the ICT sector in Ghana. “We at Airtel Ghana believe that there is a lot our young people have to offer the world by way of innovations using the vast world of the internet and we have positioned ourselves as a company to enable young people benefit from our 3.75G network”, he added. The competition was the result of an agreement the UG and IBM signed last year to collaborate and foster new entrepreneurial approaches to education, research and development and to support the adoption of new technologies such as cloud computing and business analytics. That collaboration has also led to the establishment and development of educational programmes and curricula to strengthen skills in information technology and improve access to education, especially in remote areas of the country. Airtel Ghana and IBM on the other hand signed a strategic outsourcing agreement in 2010 to transform emerging African mobile communications market fuelling economic development across 16 countries in Africa.