On March 3, 2025, the final of the “Open Gateway Global Use Case Innovation Challenge” jointly organized by GSMA and China Unicom was held at MWC25 Barcelona. After several evaluations, 1 first prize, 2 second prizes, and 3 third prizes were awarded among the 8 finalist teams (complete list at the end of this article). The Grand Final Awards Ceremony was opened by Sihan Bo Chen, Head of Greater China, GSMA. Hao Liqian, Senior Vice President of China Unicom, and Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer of GSMA.
Since the launch of the 2024 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit, this competition attracted 140 teams from 23 countries, including international operators, technology giants, industry alliances, renowned universities, and China Unicom’s internal teams. The competition’s judging committee was made up of experts from the industry, including the GSMA, China Unicom, and TM Forum. Their comprehensive evaluation was based on criteria such as “technological innovation degree”, “scenario adaptability”, and “pain point solving ability”.
The finalists came from industries such as smart tourism, smart campuses, low-altitude economy, intelligent driving, and outdoor sports. Thanks to advanced technologies and using GSMA Open Gateway technology, they’ve addressed challenges like optimizing large models, drone regulation, and enhancing cloud terminal intelligence. Their innovations span event services, intelligent transportation, mixed reality navigation, and low-altitude security, showcasing the powerful blend of cutting-edge tech with industry needs.
Hao Liqian extended his sincere congratulations to the winning teams at the award ceremony. He pointed out that since the launch of the GSMA Open Gateway initiative at MWC Barcelona 2023, it has reached a crucial stage. The number of signed operators has exceeded almost 80% of the global mobile connections, with over 200 commercial API instances. China Unicom will take this competition as an opportunity to accelerate the commercial applications of these innovative new ideas, establish market-oriented sharing mechanisms and monetise developers and industry partners, to everyone’s benefit.
Alex Sinclair congratulated winners on the great success of the competition in his speech and thanked China Unicom for the Global Use Case Innovation Challenge. Alex also commended China Unicom’s for its leadership and commitment to the GSMA Open Gateway initiative. This includes establishing the world’s first Open Gateway innovation incubator and fostering critical partnerships with operators in Hong Kong and Macau. Alex added that by unlocking the potential of Open Gateway APIs, China Unicom and other participants in the GSMA Open Gateway initiative we’re shaping a future where developers and operators can collaborate seamlessly — delivering transformative solutions for industries and societies worldwide.
The excellent achievements of the competition will be connected to the “GSMA-China Unicom Open Gateway Innovation Workshop”, and will receive support for technology incubation, resource matching, and global promotion. They will also be showcased for commercial applications at the China Unicom Partners Conference in July 2025. China Unicom stated that in the future, it will focus on business model innovation, collaborate with industry partners to create high-value scenario applications, and promote the prosperity of the global network industry ecosystem.
The list of award winners is as follows:
First Prize：
Project Name: Autonomous Driving on Cloud
Second Prize:
Project Name：The World’s First Global Marathon
Project Name：Tianjin University Builds a Secure and Trustworthy Digital Campus Based on the Open Gateway
Third Prize:
Project Name：Quality Assurance System of Multi-level Large-model Network Service Based on Open Gateway—Speed Link
Project Name：Building Secure and Intelligent Cloud Terminal Products Based on Open Gateway
Project Name：RJet
