UK mobile industry conference Heroes of the Mobile Screen has signed up Research In Motion and Microsoft as sponsors.

The one-day event, which takes place on 7th December in London, will now feature BlackBerry as its gold sponsor, and Windows Live and Windows Phone as silver sponsors.

RIM is certainly putting its money where its mouth is - up to 100 delegates will be given free passes to the next Mobile World Congress, as part of its sponsorship deal.

Meanwhile, the event organisers have also linked up with The World Film Collective, and are asking attendees to bring along their old unwanted handsets - as long as they can shoot video at 2MP quality or more - which will then be used in workshops for disadvantaged young people.

"To have Blackberry and Microsoft on board as sponsors is a fantastic endorsement that Heroes of the Mobile Screen is something the mobile industry and beyond are paying attention to," says co-founder Helen Keegan.

"We hope that the event is just the start of our sector talking to people and companies outside of the mobile industry nucleus to make our mobile world a better place for everyone."

Companies supplying speakers for the event include Google, Orange, Vodafone and Ogilvy Group, and tickets cost £99. Full details are at the event website.