Categories
The APICTA Categories page details award frameworks, including Head Categories, Cross-Category Awards, and Technology Awards. Eligible entries can compete in categories like Start-Up, Research & Development, and technologies such as AI and IoT. Each category has its own judging panel.
Please click on the categories to view detailed information, such as the judging criteria and their respective weightings.
Head Categories
Head Categories
- Consumer
- Inclusion and Community Services
- Industrial
- Business Services
- Public Sector and Government
- Open to all organizations, including companies and academic institutions.
- Each economy can submit up to 9 entries per Head Category, but the total must not exceed 35 across all categories.
- An entry can only be submitted to one Head Category.
- Nomination includes declaring the application nature (e.g., Media & Entertainment, Tourism, etc.) for potential sub-categorization.
- A registration fee of US$25 applies per entry.
Students’ Project Category
- Junior Student: Primary school to junior secondary school (up to Year 9).
- Senior Student: Last three years of secondary school before university (year 10-12).
- Tertiary Student: Undergraduate level.
- Each economy can nominate up to 3 entries per student Sub Category.
- Entries in this category are exclusive and cannot compete in other categories.
- A registration fee of US$25 applies per entry.
Cross Categories
Cross-Category Awards
- Research and Development Project of the Year
- Start-Up of the Year
- Optional for entries in the Head Categories.
- Each economy can nominate up to 3 entries per Cross-Category.
- Entries must meet eligibility criteria outlined in Section 4.10.
- A registration fee of US$25 applies per entry.
Technology Awards
Technology Awards
- Business Data Analytics Technology of the Year
- Internet of Things Technology Award of the Year
- Artificial Intelligence Technology of the Year
- Optional for entries in the Head Categories if the technology is exceptionally innovative.
- Each economy can nominate up to 3 entries per Technology Award.
- A registration fee of US$25 applies per entry.
Guidelines
This section provides the relevant information to all APICTA member economies to nominate organisations (which include companies, and local/national accredited academic institutions e.g. school, university, research institution) and their products and applications as entry nominations to the APICTA Award, on general organisational eligibility and on eligibility for the different categories of award.
While the eligibility of local/national accredited academic institutions are quite straight forward, the general eligibility of companies is elaborated below.
The company eligibility guideline describes the criteria and attributes for company eligibility to submit their entry nomination for APICTA Awards competition.
The companies which are eligible to nominate their ICT applications and products must meet the following criteria:
- The company must be locally registered in the respective APICTA member economy.
- The company can be a 100% local company, or a joint venture between a local company and a foreign company. The foreign company in the joint venture can be either a company(ies) registered in the APICTA member economy or a company(ies) from outside the APICTA member economy. Local shareholders must own at least 51% of the total shares.
The product or application for APICTA entry nomination must meet the following criteria:
- The Intellectual Property Right for the product or application must be owned by the company which is eligible to be nominated according to the Company Eligibility guideline, or its Intellectual Property Right is owned by the offshore parent of the local company where the majority owner shareholding is the local company.
- At least 51% of the development efforts, including research and development and design, must have been undertaken within the APICTA member economy from where the application is submitted.
The followings are non-eligible for entry nomination:
- A product, of which the main R&D and design efforts have been undertaken in non-APICTA member economy or of which the company being nominated within the APICTA member economy is providing code-cutting outsourced services.
- An entry which has won an APICTA Awards during one of the last three APICTA competitions is not eligible as a new entry. In addition, substantial enhancements must have been made on the original winning entry for it to be considered eligible as a new entry. Any such consideration and decision will be at the discretion of the APICTA Judges Sub-Committee.
It is the absolute responsibility of the member economy to ensure that the nominating entries are submitted to the appropriate category. It is highly recommended that a person within the economy, who is familiar with the definition of APICTA categories (for example, an experienced APICTA judge) to screen the nominations before submission.
In case of doubt, the Panel of Advisory Judges should be consulted. Nominating an entry to “the wrong category” would potentially results in low judging scores and opportunity loss (if it were submitted to the right category).
1. For Students’ Project Entries:
– Submit entries to the relevant sub-category (Junior, Senior, or Tertiary).
– Pay a registration fee of US$25 per entry.
2. For Head Category Entries:
– Submit entries to one of the five Head Categories.
– Optionally nominate for one Cross-Category Award (Research and Development or Start-Up) and/or one Technology Award if eligible.
– Total registration fee varies based on the number of categories nominated:
US$25 for Head Category only.
US$50 for Head Category + one Cross-Category.
US$50 for Head Category + one Technology Award.
US$75 for Head Category + one Cross-Category + one Technology Award.
Presentation Requirements:
– If nominated for multiple categories, prepare tailored presentations for each judging panel, considering specific criteria for each category.
– Maximum Entries per Economy: An economy can theoretically submit up to 44 unique entries.
– Category Exclusivity: Students’ Project entries are not eligible for other categories. Entries must choose either a Head Category or a combination of Head, Cross, and Technology Categories.
– Judging Panels: Each category and sub-category has its own judging panel with specific criteria.