Huawei Technologies, China's largest telecommunications equipment maker, launched a competition on Monday in Europe to challenge young developers to design innovative mobile applications.

Teaming up with Microsoft and the European Young Innovators Forum, Huawei put together the competition, entitled “InnoApps, Huawei Apps Developers European Challenge, Powered by Microsoft”, to attract young talent.

“In the next three years, we plan to recruit another 4,000 employees (in the EU),” said Tao Jingwen, president of Hauwei Technologies' Western Europe division.

The competition is open to university students and young professionals who are European Union residents and under the age of 27.

“Through the competition, we hope to empower young people to develop their ideas while also fostering more youth entrepreneurship in Europe,” said Leo Sun, president of Huawei's European Public Affairs and Communications Office in Brussels.

The company currently has approximately 7,000 employees in Europe, 70 percent of whom are local workers.

Huawei officials said they are committed to recruiting talent in Europe despite the 27-country bloc's announcement a few months ago that it may start an anti-dumping investigation toward the Chinese company.

Winners of the competition will get monetary rewards, Huawei mobile phones and a trip to China. Developers will also have their applications promoted in Microsoft's Windows store.