PARIS, July 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --Bell Labs, the research arm of Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), today announced expansion of its university collaboration program with a new award for the institution that gives rise to the winning application for the new Bell Labs Prize.

Bell Labs will offer a U.S. $100,000 donation to the accredited university or institution of higher learning in which the overall winner of the Bell Labs Prize is enrolled at the time of their application. The donation will be directed to a selected professor of the university or institution whose areas of research and study are foundational to the subject matter of the winning application.

In May, Bell Labs introduced the Bell Labs Prize, a competition that will give any researcher, in participating countries around the globe, to collaborate with world-renowned Bell Labs researchers. The Bell Labs Prize winners will take home cash awards worth as much as $100,000, and the chance to further develop their ideas at Bell Labs. The call for entries closes on July 15, 2014. The program will be judged by a global panel of industry luminaries, university professors and major corporations.

Bell Labs Expanding Footprint
In addition to unveiling the Bell Labs Prize, in recent months Bell Labs also unveiled its plans to open at least three new 'antenna' locations. These are designed to be smaller and more nimble research spaces, that are actively engaged in the global Bell Labs network.

In May, Bell Labs announced the first location, an office led by Danny Raz a prominent Israeli computer scientist near Tel-Aviv, Israel with a specific focus on cloud networking research. This team is working closely with Alcatel-Lucent's CloudBand(TM) team to undertake cutting edge research into how to provide highly distributed, heterogeneous cloud services with guaranteed security, reliability and performance.

Later this month Bell Labs will announce a new location in Europe to expand its collaboration with leading universities and technology innovators in another technology domain.

Quotes:

Marcus Weldon, President of Bell Labs & CTO of Alcatel-Lucent commented, "We are excited by tremendous interest shown so far in the Bell Labs Prize and the quality of the applications that we are seeing. So we have decided to further enhance the impact on the next generation of innovators and recognize the larger research community with an additional award for the originating university that sponsored the work of the winning applicant. This, together with our expansion of Bell Labs with new antenna sites in research 'hotbeds' is all part of our continuing reconnection of Bell Labs to the next great generation of innovators."

About the Bell Labs Prize

The Bell Labs Prize is a competition rewarding 10x game-changing proposals in the field of information and communications technologies and related software systems and applications. The competition is open to anyone in one of the participating countries, who 'owns' an idea and meets the eligibility requirements.

Three prize winners will receive a grant of either $100,000 (grand prize), $50,000 (second place) or $25,000 (third place). Additionally, through the process, Bell Labs may engage with other contest participants as part of the company's recruitment investment in top talent. The deadline to enter the contest is Tuesday, July 15, 2014. For more information, visit the Bell Labs Prize web site. No purchase or payment necessary to enter the competition. Void where prohibited.

Additional Resources:
Bell Labs Prize Web Site
Bell Labs Future Impossible Video Series

ABOUT ALCATEL-LUCENT (EURONEXT PARIS AND NYSE: ALU)
We are at the forefront of global communications, providing products and innovations in IP and cloud networking, as well as ultra-broadband fixed and wireless access to service providers and their customers, and to enterprises and institutions throughout the world. Underpinning us in driving the industrial transformation from voice telephony to high-speed digital delivery of data, video and information is Bell Labs, an integral part of the Group and one of the world's foremost technology research institutes, responsible for countless breakthroughs that have shaped the networking and communications industry. Our innovations have resulted in our Group being recognized by Thomson Reuters as a Top 100 Global Innovator, as well as being named by MIT Technology Review as amongst 2012's Top 50 "World's Most Innovative Companies." We have also been recognized for innovation in sustainability, being named Industry Group Leader in the Technology Hardware & Equipment sector in the 2013 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices review, for making global communications more sustainable, affordable and accessible, all in pursuit of the Group's mission to realize the potential of a connected world.

With revenues of Euro 14.4 billion in 2013, Alcatel-Lucent is listed on the Paris and New York Stock Exchanges (Euronext and NYSE: ALU). The company is incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris.

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