Verizon will hand out up to $1 million in seed money for the best 5G ideas

Besides individuals, the 5G Challenge is open to companies backed by Venture Capitialists, non-profits, educators, and small start-up firms. Those with the best ideas will share as much as $1 million dollars in seed money from Verizon, and will also get to help develop the idea through live video chats with the carrier's 5G incubator labs in New York City; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Los Angeles; Palo Alto, California, and Washington, D.C. Verizon will also offer technical support to those innovators whose 5G concepts it chooses as the best among the entrants.

5G will bring much faster data speeds than currently available from 4G, giving mobile devices the ability to respond faster to a user's input. Not only will 5G impact how fast mobile devices send and receive data, it also is being touted as the technology that will bring improvements in health care, transportation, business, education and more.

Considering that Verizon is considering 5G to be the fourth Industrial Revolution (after steam engines, electrical modes of transportation, and the personal computer), the carrier is no doubt expecting the winning ideas to be truly outstanding commercial concepts. If you think that describes your 5G idea, don't pass up this opportunity to catch the eye of the people at Verizon. With the carrier's backing, both financial and technical, what started as an idea in the back of your mind could become a 5G innovation.