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Lucent Technologies and New Perspectives Foundation Announce Russia’s National "Teaching Youth the New Technologies" Open Contest’s Results


WEBWIRE

16 projects submitted by students of technical institutes from 13 Russian cities are selected as winners

JULY 13, 2006, Moscow, Russia - Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) and the New Perspectives Foundation announced today the results of the Russia National “Teaching Youth the New Technologies” Open Contest launched on January 31, 2006. The contest’s Grant Committee, represented by IT experts and Lucent Technologies’ employees, selected 16 winners from more than 100 projects submitted to the contest. Authors of the winning ideas will get grants from US $850 up to US $5,000, depending on the scale and complexity of the project, to put their ideas into reality.

The contest -- supported by the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications of the Russian Federation -- aimed at encouraging Russian youth to participate in the development of new information and telecommunications technologies. It was organized by the New Perspectives Foundation in co-operation with the Center for Information Society Development (RIO-Center) with support from Lucent Technologies. 107 IT-related innovative projects from students of Russian technology colleges were submitted to the contest. Lucent Russia’s specialists helped the contest participants with professional consulting and by answering various technology-related questions.

Contestants were drawn from practically all Russia regions from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok (Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg, Omsk, Nizhni Novgorod, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Tomsk, Murmansk, Surgut, Chita, Stavropol, etc.).

Submitted applications describing the authors’ innovative ideas were studied and examined by the contest’s Advisory Council and Grant Committee. The winners were selected based on current importance of presented problems, project objectives and potential results, the way they presented their ideas, and the future prospects of their project.

“Each one of more than 100 submitted applications is interesting in its own way, unique, and of a high quality that once again confirms the necessity of such programs as the ”Teaching Youth the New Technologies“ contest. Recognizing the high quality of the applications, the experts decided to support 16 projects whereas initially only ten or twelve were supposed to be awarded with grants,” said Nadezhda Seriakova, president of the New Perspectives Foundation.

“The applications encompass various fields, such as programming training, cable video transmission algorithms, development of object-oriented programming courses and many other things. I believe that the winning applications represent greater practical value and really correspond to today’s demands of the government sector and the market. There is no doubt that many of them can be useful for public enterprises,” said Alexey Gumirov, the contest Expert Committee member, technology and business development system engineer, Lucent Technologies Russia and CIS.

“Certainly, the contest will be judged by its results, i.e. by measuring how many of the presented ideas will be actually deployed. However, I am absolutely sure that this contest has entirely justified its name. It is already clear that the ”Teaching Youth the New Technologies“ program has revealed the tremendous potential of the younger generation,” said Dmitry Kamensky, managing director, Lucent Technologies Russia and CIS. “We are excited about the interest which the contest has caused among the Russian technically-interested youth, and we sincerely hope that the opportunities the participants were given during the contest will stimulate their further scientific activities.”

The contest is supported by Lucent Technologies, which invested US $100,000 in the project implementation, including a US $60,000 grant fund, to be distributed among the winners. The money was provided by the Lucent Technologies Foundation within the framework of the Global Fund for Youth Development (GFYD) program implemented by Lucent together with the International Youth Foundation. The multi-year, US $2.8 million GFYD program encompasses 17 countries and provides grants to strengthen and expand effective programs, global communications support, and institutional capacity building and networking.

The media partners for this competition are: ComNews ( http://www.comnews.ru ), Cnews ( http://www.cnews.ru ), NT-Inform ( http://www.nt-inform.ru ) and InformCourierSvyaz industry business magazine.

About the partners
Registered in 1995, the New Perspectives Foundation is a non-profit, non-government organization operating in most regions of the Russian Federation. It aims at developing democratic values among the younger generation. The main goal of the Foundation’s activities is the implementation of children and youth programs to recruit young talent for the communications industry, improve the image of the youth in society, and assist youth leaders in politics, business, culture, and education to ensure stability and foster development in society. The activities of the Foundation also cover cultural, educational, philanthropic, research, and information-consultative spheres. Through active involvement of children and youth in its programs, the New Perspectives Foundation helps the youth to form a view of the world, develop skills of self-criticism and a sense of self-sufficiency, responsibility, individuality and respect for people. The Foundation stands for improvement of youth policy in the country and raises the cultural level of the Russian Federation through realization of its programs and partnership with other organizations. For more information on the New Perspectives Foundation visit http://www.npf.ru.

The International Youth Foundation is a global nonprofit organization that collaborates with businesses, government, and civil society organizations to improve the life conditions and prospects of young people. Working in 70 countries, IYF prepares young people to be healthy, productive, and engaged citizens. Visit http://www.iyfnet.org.

The non-commercial Center for Information Society Development (RIO-Center) promotes the development of information society in Russia. To achieve this purpose the RIO-Center connects and coordinates the efforts of the experts working on relevant issues, and initiates and stimulates research of information technologies and its penetration, as well as challenges of information society. The RIO-Center works for the government sector and enterprise customers, promoting development of information society in Russia, propagating the ideas of information society development, distributing scientific knowledge in this area, and consolidating financial resources for the solution of these problems. Information on the RIO-Center can be found at: http://www.riocenter.ru.

Lucent Technologies designs and delivers the systems, services and software that drive next-generation communications networks. Backed by Bell Labs research and development, Lucent uses its strengths in mobility, optical, software, data and voice networking technologies, as well as services, to create new revenue-generating opportunities for its customers, while enabling them to quickly deploy and better manage their networks. Lucent’s customer base includes communications service providers, governments and enterprises worldwide. For more information on Lucent Technologies, which has headquarters in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, visit http://www.lucent.com.

The Lucent Technologies Foundation manages the global philanthropic activities of Lucent Technologies. With a primary focus on education, youth development and volunteerism, the Foundation supports one of Lucent´s core values - a strong commitment to social responsibility - by serving and enhancing the communities where our employees and customers live and work. More information on the Lucent Foundation can be found at http://www.lucent.com/social/foundation.



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