In the Ericsson-sponsored Economic Development category, the prize went to ITC eChoupal of India. More than 400 guests enjoyed a gala dinner at Stockholm City Hall in honor of the winners of the Stockholm Challenge, sponsored by Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology, the City of Stockholm, the Swedish International Development Association (SIDA), and Ericsson.

With an original field of 1165 entries, the jury evaluated 580 and selected 151 finalist projects to send representatives to Stockholm. From those, six category winners received the EUR 5000 awards.

A special EUR 10,000 prize from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was awarded to the Online Fish Trading Platform in East Africa.

For two-and-a-half days prior to the ceremony, delegates took part in a series of workshops highlighting the power of telecom, computer and internet technologies to achieve development assistance goals. The purpose of the conference, says jury chairman Earl Mardle, of Sydney, Australia, is to create networks of ambitious, knowledgeable and well-connected people who hold the keys to solving a range of economic development problems.

“It’s not just about technology, and not even necessarily about the clever idea behind the technology,” Mardle says. “The challenge is about the people who make the idea work in order to solve environmental problems and empower poor people to take control over their economic destinies.”

The Stockholm Challenge awards are handed out every two years. Competition categories include Culture, Environment, Health, Public Administration, Economic Development, and Education.

The Economic Development prize, sponsored by Ericsson, was awarded to ITC eChoupal, an online commodity market for small and often poor Indian farmers. ITC eChoupal aims to “sidestep value-sapping problems caused by fragmentation” while evolving markets to stop “rent-seeking vested interests (who) exploit the disadvantaged position” of small farmers.

Ericsson's Ulf Ewaldsson handed over the prize to Srinivas Kale, representative for ITC eChoupal at the event. Kale says winning the award “will be a very big shot in the arm for us.”

Derived from the Hindi word for marketplace, eChoupal is intended to make essential farming information – such as prices, weather, and crop conditions – available online. “We help remove the middleman and make sure the farmer gets the best deal,” Kale says.