WSA Winners 2021

MAKING THE 'COVID CONNECTIVITY BOOST' ACCESSIBLE – THE WSA TOP 40 PROVIDE SMART SOLUTIONS LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND

The 'COVID connectivity boost' provides an excellent lever to accelerate the transition towards a climate-neutral, smart, and more inclusive world. The WSA Winners 2021 from 29 countries prove that content driven applications are enabling connectivity and sustainability, aside from bandwidth and high-tech.

Through the 'COVID connectivity boost', the number of people who have used the Internet surged to 4.9 billion in 2021 (ITU), from an estimated 4.1 billion in 2019. This comes as good news for global development. However, the ability to connect remains profoundly unequal and digital means often are not as accessible and sustainable as they seem.

WSA Winners 2021 has provided many handy solutions, be it for remote working, online learning, or healthcare. Digital impact content range from a platform for educators to serve the most vulnerable children in the local communities in Lebanon, AI powered personalised life-saving information on weather, wave height, wind direction and speed and fish aggregation in India’s fisherfolk to bridging the inclusivity gap for business owners in Ghana’s informal sector and making rural electrification affordable for people in Cambodia.

Selected from over 290 nominations from 182 participating countries, the 40 WSA Winners 2021 focus on the diversity of the user, striving to provide connectivity and access to everyone aside from high tech development.

SEE HERE ALL WSA WINNERS 2021!

The final jury phase concluded in an online five days Grand Jury meeting of 50 international high level experts, deciding in a democratic and transparent process on the most powerful and content rich solutions 2021.

‘In the wake of major social and political changes over the current pandemic, social entrepreneurs and digital innovators around the globe are taking bold steps to safeguard diversity, equity, and inclusion. Being a Member of the WSA Grand Jury, I have witnessed this first-hand. As became clear, there is no silver bullet. No single solution that can tackle the UN SDGs. Yet, in pushing ourselves to think outside the box and draw on the best empirical evidence that exists, the convening WSA applicants showcased promising evidence that we still have significant hope for the UN 2030 agenda. WSA Grand Jury process is the most democratic evaluation mechanism that is out there to compare and contrast Global Innovations representing all UN Member Countries.’ states WSA Grand Jury member and National Expert for Australia, Sachi Wickramage.

The WSA Winners 2021 will present their innovations at the WSA Global Congress, from March 22 -24, 2022. The WSA Global Congress 2022 is a virtual international networking and learning event for those who are interested in the use of digital technology to achieve the UN SDGs.