National Geographic And Sprint Announce Winner Of CHASING GENIUS: Unlimited Innovation -- Awards $25,000 Prize To Turn Idea Into Catalyst For Change In The World

WASHINGTON and OVERLAND PARK, Kan., March 21, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- National Geographic and Sprint are proud to announce Asha Gummadi as the winner of the "CHASING GENIUS: Unlimited Innovation" challenge, which aimed at inspiring innovative ideas focused on wireless connectivity and the network of the future. Based in Philadelphia, Asha Gummadi garnered the most votes on the CHASING GENIUS platform for her idea on Empowering Tele Rehabilitation with Digital Connectivity, and will receive $25,000 to take her vision further.

The CHASING GENIUS: Unlimited Innovation challenge began in January as the second challenge in National Geographic's growing CHASING GENIUS franchise, a groundbreaking digital initiative built on the premise that transformational ideas can come from anywhere, and from anyone. Inspiring people all over the globe, the CHASING GENIUS community unleashed more than one thousand potential solutions to leverage technology and the power of connectivity to imagine a better world.

Asha's project is a smartphone app that allows doctors to digitally prescribe physical therapy exercises to patients in developing countries who can't easily access rehab centers or treatment. To ensure patients can learn their exercises remotely, the app demonstrates each movement via detailed animations, and allows patients to choose their own language for instructions. A neurological physical therapist, Asha was inspired to create the app after she could not effectively recommend exercises to her mother due to a language barrier, and after her grandfather couldn't access much-needed rehab services in rural India. Learn more about Asha's idea HERE.

Launched last spring, the CHASING GENIUS platform brings together a community of active, aspirational, socially conscious consumers who want to make a positive difference in the world. Through the platform, challenges are presented to the community in an effort to foster and grow innovative ideas around some of the most pressing issues facing our planet.

Since the challenge began, the CHASING GENIUS community has grown to 35,000 members. The concept of transformational ideas and CHASING GENIUS reverberated across social, digital and broadcast media and generated more than 100 million impressions, seven million content views, and 229,000* social conversations. 

During the submissions phase, the community was highly engaged — sharing ideas, offering feedback, asking questions, and flagging favorites. The submissions were then evaluated on four criteria to find the most inspiring, innovative, creative, and viable ideas. After the members of the CHASING GENIUS: Unlimited Innovation Council determined the top 10 finalists, the CHASING GENIUS community cast their votes to elect the winning idea.

"By way of this CHASING GENIUS challenge -- and those that will follow -- we want to prove to consumers around the world that the term 'explorer' isn't confined to one meaning. It's the curiosity, creativity and perseverance put into each submission that sparks the explorer in each of us," said Claudia Malley, executive vice president, partner solutions, National Geographic. "Our work here with Sprint has proven that theory and has shown us that transformative ideas can truly come from anyone, and anywhere."

"We all have the ability to be a catalyst for positive global change, and it was inspiring to see so many people share their passion for technology and innovation through the National Geographic Chasing Genius platform," said Dr. John Saw, Chief Technology Officer, Sprint. "We congratulate all of the finalists, along with Asha Gummadi, and we can't wait to see where their ideas take them next."

Council members who played a role in reviewing submissions include Eric Berkenpas, engineer and Sr. Director of Exploration Technology at National Geographic; Victoria Jaggard, Online Science and Innovation News Editor for National Geographic; Tan Le, Founder & CEO of EMOTIV; Dr. John Saw, Sprint CTO; and Albert Yu-Min-Lin, research scientist and engineer focused on technology-enabled exploration and crowdsourcing. Select council members have been chosen for their ability to make the impossible possible and for their visions of making the world a better place.

For a comprehensive look at submissions, follow the link here:http://www.natgeochasinggenius.com/videos

*Potential Reach is provided by Spredfast times 5% (estimated reach), based on #ChasingGenius and other program qualifiers

CHASING GENIUS is inspired by National Geographic's Emmy-nominated series, "Genius" which will once again be supported across National Geographic platforms, including the May cover of National Geographic magazine, travel, social, digital, and other platforms. Season two, premiering April 24th, will chronicle the life of another renowned mastermind and tell the untold narrative of the person behind the genius — this time, focusing on Pablo Picasso.

About National Geographic Partners LLC
National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 130 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers…and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served 54.6 million connections as of December 31, 2017 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Today, Sprint's legacy of innovation and service continues with an increased investment to dramatically improve coverage, reliability, and speed across its nationwide network and commitment to launching the first 5G mobile network in the U.S. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

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SOURCE National Geographic