The theme of the 2014 Ericsson Application Awards is working life, with the Swedish supplier saying the focus supports its vision of a “networked society”.

Combining both global and regional competitions, the 2014 event will be the fifth consecutive year that Ericsson has organised app awards.

The first prize is €25,000 and the second prize €10,000. There is also special recognition for innovation supporting “Technology for Good”.

There are third to 10th prize diplomas and honorary mentions

There will be two categories for this contest – one for students, and one for small- and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 100 employees. The apps can be for Android or iOS.

Ericsson wants to explore how apps can help daily working lives, both now and in the future.

The winner of the student category in 2013 was Portugal’s GreenSpark, which offered a solution based on energy efficiency with global reach.

The UK’s TboxApps was the winner in the company category. Their solution was based on usage patterns in order to get access to instant messages and quickly get help.

In all, 192 teams took part in the 2013 competition (compared with 143 in 2012) from 52 countries.