Author: liene

21 hours of intense discussions, over 108 countries attending, 12 content-rich sessions, 60 jury members, 1 Award Ceremony and countless new cross-border connections made. The WSA Global Congress, held online March 22 – 24, 2022, presented how local digital content can support building the bridges needed to close global gaps. Meet the 9 WSA Global Champions, who stand out as best-practice modes of how digital content provides real solutions.

 

The global multi-stakeholder network of WSA and digital entrepreneurship enthusiasts came together at the WSA Global Congress, discussion on how to move on to a true knowledge society, as well as achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The motto of the event was Hack the Gap, a motto referring to the need for global connectivity, addressing environmental or bias issues or providing accessibility for everyone. The WSA Winners 2021 proved with their impactful live pitches that digital innovation can be a true driver to achieve those goals.

 

Among them, 9 Global Champions were selected as best practice examples for digital tools helping to narrow the societal gaps to improve society around the world.

 

 

WSA GLOBAL CHAMPIONS 2022

Government & Citizen Engagement:

ManoSeimas.lt is an online tool making representative politics in Lithuania more transparent and increasing trust in political integrity by holding members of Parliament accountable. ManoSeimas.lt collects, analyses, and visualises data about parliamentary policymaking, indicating what interest groups and lobbyists affect decision-making. Data obtained from various sources is systemised in user- friendly interactive charts.

 

 

 

Health & Well Being:

FibriCheck is a free digital application from Belgium for smart phones and watches, detecting cardiac arrhythmia to prevent strokes. Pioneered in 2014, FibriCheck is certified as a full medical device, super simple yet equal in accuracy to an ECG. Users download the app for heart rhythm monitoring as easy as putting one’s finger on the camera for 60 seconds. Feedback follows, clinical support can be requested.

 

 

 

Learning & Education:

The Inspirelearn mobile platform from Malawi is a simple, portable, offline, and affordable tool containing graphic educational content and an audio library in both English and Chichewa, the local language. The platform can be easily modified to work on Inspirelearn solar-powered display devices and is a great tool for secondary school youth in remote and underprivileged communities.

 

 

 

 

Environment & Green Energy:

Peer to Peer Solar Trading provides an operating system in Uttar Pradesh state for new clean energy markets. In P2P energy trading, individuals generate energy from rooftop solar (RTPV) and share excess energy. Power Ledger’s platform integrates with smart meter systems to enable households to set prices, track energy trading and settle surplus solar transactions in real-time through smart contracts executed on blockchain.

 

 

 

 

Culture & Tourism:

Kathuwaraya.com is a unique platform nurturing Sri Lankan writers and offering texts in Sinhala via free web & mobile apps. With a secure copyright framework, over 200 authors publish without fear of theft, build their readership, and gain popularity. Kathuwaraya.com presents readers young and old with diverse works to enjoy and review, including voiced renditions.

 

 

 

 

Smart Settlements & Urbanization:

The CREE LifeCycle Platform from Austria for the systematic construction of large-scale buildings, combines stunning design with urban sustainability. The CREE network of professionals improves and shares forward-thinking building practices. Users join a community of transparent, interactive expertise in globally applicable, sustainable, construction methods where perspectives come together to enhance the platform, and to radically digitize and reorganize conventional processes in the construction industry.

 

 

 

 

Business & Commerce:

Lucinity from Iceland is an AML software company using Human and advanced AI systems to Make Money Good. Existing anti- money laundering (AML) systems based on manual processes only catch about 1% of the 2.5 trillion US dollars laundered through financial systems every year. With Lucinity, banks find money laundering behaviours in transaction data more efficiently, AML procedures become more targetted with every case.

 

 

 

 

Inclusion & Empowerment:

Mobility Mojo from Ireland is a digital accessibility evaluation toolkit. Mobility Mojo helps workplaces and hotels evaluate, integrate, and display accessibility features. Using a smartphone office managers or hotel owners walk through and audit their premises, then integrate and display all the facilities they offer in a standardized way across all platforms. Mobility Mojo helps businesses to deliver a welcoming experience to people with accessibility needs.

 

 

 

 

Young Innovators:

CocoRemedy is a mobile web-based application in Sri Lanka providing coconut growers with information from surveillance identifying coconut diseases and pest infestations early. In collaboration with the Coconut Research Institute of Sri Lanka (CRISL), CocoRemedy offers visualizations of infected areas or future danger areas using deep learning, image processing, and crowdsourcing.

 

 

WSA to participate in UN WSIS Forum 2022, March 17th, 13.00 CET with a workshop ''Hack the Accessibility Gap''.

 

Since it's initiation in 2003, in the framework of the WSIS Process organized by International Telecommunication Union - ITU, UNESCO and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, WSA selects global best practice solutions in digital interactive and content rich applications along the WSIS action lines C7. 🌍

As in the past years, WSA invited several members of the WSA network to contribute to the UN WSIS Forum 2022, with a workshop on how to ''Hack the Accessibility Gap''.

 

Across the globe one billion people experience a disability, and accessibility issues go far beyond the physical environment. Although we are living in the age of innovation –  the way we interact with technology is evolving, especially in an adaptive technology, there are still huge gaps, in terms of content, accessibility and access.

 

WSA's mission is to empower those who already take action. In an interactive multi-stakeholder workshop on “Hack the Accessibility Gap”, digital innovators from all over the world will demonstrate how digital content and innovation can raise awareness, provide access, narrow accessibility gaps and feature taboo topics.

 

 

Workshop panellists:

  • Peter A. Bruck, Chairman of the Board of Directors / panel moderation
  • Tanzila Khan, Founder Girlythings, Pakistan
  • Ramy Soliman, Co-Founder & COO, Bonocle, Qatar
  • Cid Torquato, Institutional Relations Coordinator, Sao Paulo State Secretariat for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, torquato.org , Brazil
  • Nadine Dlouhy, Trainer, equalizent, Austria
  • Wilfried Kainz, Researcher, Zero Project, Austria

 

The workshop is free to join.

REGISTER HERE

 

WSA Young Innovators is a special recognition for young social entrepreneurs under 26 years of age, using ICTs to take action on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Together with the WSA winners of each year, they are honored as outstanding digital innovation with social impact.

 

The WSA Young Innovators call closed this year with 377 applications from 85 countries. An especially selected youth expert jury evaluated all applications carefully and selected 5 WSA Young Innovators.

 

From connecting hospitals and patients to emergency services and medium-range cargo drones in Nigeria to creating sustainable transport systems for cyclists in Portugal.

 

From preventing and predicting outbreaks to ensure water security in Bangladesh, over monitoring coconut diseases and pest infestations with the help of image processing in Sri Lanka, to turning everyday shopping in charitable actions in Hungary - The Young Innovators 2021 use their knowledge to build a world for everyone, so technology not only supports, but impacts lives for the better.

 

Together with the 40 winners of WSA, the winners of the WSA Young Innovators 2021 will present their solutions and get awarded at the WSA Global Congress 2022, March 22-24, 2022.

 

 

 

CocoRemedy, Sri Lanka

 

SEE HERE ALL 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.

 

REGISTER FOR WSA GLOBAL CONGRESS 2022!

 

SHOWCASING SOCIAL IMPACT THROUGH DIGITAL CONTENT GLOBALLY - HERE IS THE WSA SHORTLIST 2021

 

Climate change, educational divides, gender inequalities - more than ever we need to work on closing the global divides. The WSA Shortlist 2021 showcases the great innovations that continues to emerge and drive a positive impact in society. High quality digital creative solutions prove to be vitally important to tackle the global challenges caused by inequalities, injustices and Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Digital innovation and content driven applications can serve as a forceful driver for reaching the UN SDGs. Over 65 countries. 290 + nominations. 119 shortlisted social digital solutions. With focus on digital content, user value, local impact and contribution to the achievement of the UN SDGs, these outstanding best practice solutions have been selected for the WSA Shortlist by the international WSA Online Jury.

 

Find out what made it to the top 13 - 17 in each WSA category in terms of local solutions using digital content to close the worldwide gaps, make a beneficial impact on their communities.

 

The WSA shortlist 2021 provides a unique global selection of how digital applications work towards solving local issues - globally!

 

 

WSA SHORTLIST 2021

 

 

In the next step, the WSA Shortlist will be reviewed by the international experts across the globe to select the 40 WSA Winners - the WSA Grand Jury Meeting.

 

WSA Call 2021 Statistics

DIGITAL CONTENT FOR THE UN SDG’s - THE NEXT GENERATION OF CHANGE MAKERS

 

The WSA Young Innovators is a special recognition for young social entrepreneurs under 26 years of age, using ICTs to take action on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

 

Check out the Young Innovators that made it to the second round of WSA Young Innovators Online Jury!

 

 

WSA YOUNG INNOVATORS SHORTLIST 2021

 

 

This year the WSA Young Innovators 2021 open call received 377 applications from over 85 countries. Read more about the WSA Young innovators Call 2021 Statistics.

European Champions 2021

digital. purpose driven. european. November 24, 2021

 

The European Young Innovators Winners 2021 present outstanding digital solutions with relevance and immediate impact in their communities. With local content and smart technology, the 15 winners pitched their solutions to improve the daily life in our societies at the European Young Innovators Festival on November 24th.

 

Evaluating their pitch, the product and the team behind the solutions - the Jury members finally select 2 overall winners - one European Champion in the category European Young Innovators under the age of 32, and one European Champion in the Youth Category under the age of 26 years!

 

Congratulations to the 2 European Champions 2021!

 

European Champion

CircuitMess, Croatia

CircuitMess' kits are a unique blend of resources for learning about both hardware and software in a fun and interesting way. All the kits come disassembled, and the user has to assemble them from scratch by soldering and screwing the pieces together.

European Champion - Youth Category

Snapstudy, Ireland

Snapstudy is an AI based content revision app that uses proprietary and state-of-the-art NLP models to allow users to take images of their notes & creates flashcards/ summaries of their notes for revision, and can create summaries/flashcards from handwritten notes as well as printed text.

 

All winners will be honored in an onsite ceremony at the European Young Innovators Festival in Graz, May 3-5, 2022!

DIGITAL. PURPOSE DRIVEN. EUROPEAN. – FROM CLIMATE JUSTICE TO CLOSING KNOWLEDGE GAPS. The 15 European Young Innovators 2021 demonstrate how young social entrepreneurs offer new solutions to protect the environment, educate people, reach gender equality, and offer new ways to citizen participation. The solutions are marked by relevance, quality, and immediate impact in their communities.

 

European Young Innovators 2021 list

JOIN EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS FESTIVAL 2021 | ONLINE NOVEMBER 24TH

WSA European Young Innovators 2021 focus on tackling the UN SDGs:

 

 

The challenges of the global pandemic have caused Europe to rethink its ways and structures. Especially digital content has proven to be an essential problem solver, providing solutions for remote working, online learning, and health. With the regional initiative of the European Young Innovators, WSA connects and highlights purpose driven digital entrepreneurship across Europe.

 

“The WSA European Young Innovators initiative combines two major perspectives - first the commitment on the UN SDGs through Europe’s Youth and the positive shaping of the future of Europe. The UN SDGs must be our measurement – in terms of what to look at and where to look. Today we are living in a completely different environment – the global pandemic has shows more than ever how much digital means can be essential and beneficial for progress and positive impact. Hence, it is more important than ever to promote qualitative, local content. This year’s European Young Innovators present a wonderful showcase of purpose driven innovation and entrepreneurship.“ WSA Chairman Peter A. Bruck states.

 

European Young Innovators 2021 - represented countries

 

 

 

European Young Innovators 2021

 

 

JOIN EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS FESTIVAL 2021 | ONLINE NOVEMBER 24TH

 

Reforming journalism - WSA Winner Maria Ressa recieves Nobel Peace Prize

 

"When you don't have facts... you don't have a shared reality, you can't have democracy," says 2021 Nobel laureate and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS.

 

Maria Ressa is the first individual winner of a Nobel prize from the Philippines, winning it for her outstanding work as the Co-Founder of WSA Winner 2015 Rappler online news website. Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, said the journalists Philippine Maria Ressa and Russian Dmitry Muratov were named winners because the "work of journalists is absolutely necessary to achieve these goals, and in that manner, develop democracy. [..] Freedom of expression is full of paradoxes, and conveying fake news and information that is propaganda and untrue is also a violation of freedom of expression."

 

In 2015, Rappler was nominated and awarded as WSA winner in the category News and Media. The word Rappler comes from the root words rap (to discuss) + ripple (to make waves). Powered by technology, Rappler delivers uncompromised journalism and stories that inspire smart conversations, community engagement and ignite digitally-fuelled actions for social change. The portal has grown prominent through investigative reporting, including into large scale killings during a police campaign against drugs. This is also what convinved the WSA Jury in 2015.

 

 

The Rappler Team presented their solution at the WSA Global Congress 2016, Singapore.

 

"I've read many local newspapers and magazines, but Rappler is the most interesting by far. Excerpts from the CEOs message are strong words of one who has a strong advocacy for truth and transparency: Rappler promises uncompromised journalism that inspires smart conversations and ignites a thirst for change. The team believes in the power of emotions and as neuroscientists say, the act of labeling emotions increases our ability to reason. Here's a newspaper that really makes you a part of the daily news, " reasoned the WSA National Expert for the Philippines.

 

 

WSA Rappler News item

Rapper wins WSA, News item on rappler.com

 

A Nobel Prize for both - women and journalism

 

"When news organizations lost our gatekeeping powers to technology platforms, those platforms abdicated their responsibility to the public sphere and that has made facts debatable because the data – facts and lies are treated equally," Ressa told Al Jazeera English in an interview on Friday night, October 8, after she was announced a 2021 Nobel Laureate. She is a strong advocate that social media is a threat to democracy and failing to halt the spread of misinformation.

 

The Nobel Peace Prize for journalists is rare. The last time was in 1935, when German Carl von Ossietzky won it for revealing his country's secret post-war rearmament program. Maria also joins the only 18 women to win the Nobel Prize.

 

Maria Ressa was one of several journalists named Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2018 for fighting media intimidation, and her legal battles have raised international concern about the harassment of media in the Philippines, a country once seen as a standard bearer for press freedom in Asia. In April 2021, Maria Ressa received the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

 

MORE ABOUT RAPPLER

With high expertise and the willingness to support sustainable, purpose driven entrepreneurs on their journey, the WSA National Experts network  welcomes new National Experts from Georgia, Austria, the US and Switzerland!

WSA Georgia - Elene Jvania and Ketevan Ebanoidze

 

 

Elene Jvania is a co-founder and Co-CEO of Impact Hub Tbilisi. Developing meaningful relationships, bringing people together and helping them understand each other’s culture and objectives is Elene’s passion. During the past ten years while working in various international business organizations, she gained extensive experience of partnership building and start-up facilitation. In 2016, she co-founded Impact Hub Tbilisi to contribute to the development of entrepreneurship in Georgia and put the country on the global entrepreneurial map.

 

Ketevan Ebanoidze is a co-founder and Co-CEO of Impact Hub Tbilisi. She managed a startup capital of $135k and launched operations in 7 months. Ketevan currently manages Impact Hub Tbilisi team and the constantly growing community. She is responsible for fundraising, designing and implementing programs aimed at promoting entrepreneurship among diverse communities.Ketevan is a public relations and media communications specialist with an extensive experience working for a wide range of TV stations in Georgia.

 

WSA Switzerland - Amanda Weilenmann

 

 

Amanda Weilenmann manages the Impact Academy, SEIF's unique coaching program specifically for impact entrepreneurs. Additionally, she runs the Social Impact Accelerator in collaboration with SENS and is always on the lookout for innovative startups or initiatives making a positive environmental or social impact. She has a passion for social justice, and a love of nature and the outdoors.

WSA US - Carlos Pereira and Brynn Plummer

 

Carlos Pereira and Brynn Plummer joins WSA US National Expert panel with Carlos Abler, Jon Mark Walls and Joel Myhre.

 

Carlos Pereira is a Computers Analyst. CEO of AEC a company, focused in creating innovative solutions for people with disabilities. He is changing the world by helping people with disabilities to be socially included by Livox, an app he created that is the evolution of alternative communication for people with disabilities.

 

Brynn Plummer is a career inclusion and equity professional who currently holds the position of Vice President, Inclusion & Community Relations at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. She has worked in the nonprofit and public sectors on a range of topics from k-12 education to progressive politics to startups and entrepreneurial ecosystem building through multiple national and global organizations including Teach For America, Teach For All, Deloitte, Culture Shift Team, Nisolo, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, UBS, American Family Insurance and Verizon Wireless.

 

WSA Austria - Lena Hödl

 

Lena Hödl joins WSA Austria National Expert panel with Mathias Haas and Christian Rupp.

 

Lena Hödl is Venture Architect at trive studio, a startup studio that develops people-centered solutions to make life more livable for everyone in the future. She is the co-curator of Global Shapers Vienna. As Head of Accelerator at Female Founders, she has connected female-led startups and investors and puts her passion into various initiatives on the subject of female empowerment and inclusion.

 

WSA NATIONAL EXPERT NETWORK

EDT&Partners announces its strategic partnership with WSA for the award category “Learning & Education”

 

EDT&Partners has signed a strategic partnership with WSA, and will work together supporting and promoting the winners of the WSA award category “Learning & Education'' by sharing best practices, learning & recommendations.

 

EDT Partners is a global, purpose-driven consulting firm dedicated to the business of education. EDT helps edtech firms, publishers, NGOs, universities, and governments accelerate innovation pipelines, grow sustainably into new territories and consolidate plans for organic and inorganic expansion. EDT currently has presence in the USA, Mexico, UK, Spain, Singapore and China.

 

WSA Chairman Prof. Peter A. Bruck: "Over the last years, the category “Learning & Education” has proven to be a gem in terms of content richness, digital creativity and forward thinking. Even more so it is necessary to build a strong support network to foster this quality content. WSA and EDT& Partners have built a strong cooperation. With this partnership, we have set another step in the mission to foster connection and exchange, supporting entrepreneurship for sustainable development.

 

WSA and EDT Partners sign strategic partnership agreement

 

Pablo Langa, EDT´s Managing Director, says, “We are delighted to sign an agreement with WSA and work together on improving education and access for vulnerable communities through technology. We look forward to achieving great things together.”

 

The Learning & Education category comprises solutions that:

  • Provide intelligent solutions for easy & low threshold access of education for everyone
  • Address the learning needs of every level of learner and creating interactive e-learning communities & interactive, personalized and distributed education resources online
  • Support knowledge transfer and skills gain in a complex and interactive fashion
  • Help teachers to enhance and simplify teaching & material creation & find new methods and innovative teaching solutions using ICT’s
  • Enhance corporate training & lifelong learning
  • Foster global collaboration in science, provide measures to promote science and demonstrate results and value to society
  • Eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations
  • Provide child, disability and gender sensitive education tools and safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments

MEET THE WINNERS

In partnership with WSA, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), has launched virtually the call for applications of the first Digital Arabic Content (DAC) Award for sustainable development.

 

The DAC Award, which will be delivered annually, aims to bridge the digital divide, and enable various segments of society to access the Internet and digital services in Arabic. It will also help promote digital technologies and recognize the efforts exerted in this regard to accelerate development in the region.

 

 

 

In her opening statement, Nibal Idlebi, Chief of the Innovation Section at ESCWA, said that digital Arabic content ranks 11th among global languages, while Arabic ranks 4th in terms of the number of Internet users. “The use of Internet and digital content was heavy during COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the countries with good infrastructure where people were able to continue working in an acceptable manner despite the lockdown,” she added.

 

Applications are open to two categories:

  1. public and non-governmental institutions as well as academia;
  2. young entrepreneurs from Arab countries from formal startups, teams of young people, or individuals younger than 35 who have created digital Arabic content applications or products that have a clear impact on society.

 

Idlebi also stressed the importance of enriching Arabic digital content to preserve the Arabic language on the Internet and increase its shareability.

 

The Award winners will have their products and experiences introduced at the regional and international levels. Young entrepreneurs will also benefit from the WSA network, lectures, and workshops related to business, technology and sustainable development.

 

On his part, Peter A. Bruck, WSA Chairman, pointed out that the Arab region has proven over the last years to be a gem in terms of content richness, digital creativity, and forward thinking. “With the ESCWA DAC Award, we have set another step in the mission to foster connection and exchange in the region, supporting local entrepreneurship for sustainable development. It is an important step of a transformative journey towards digital sovereignty and local impact through local content, highlighting the unique power of the region,” he added.

 

The rules and conditions for participation were set by a joint ESCWA-WSA steering committee, and submissions will be evaluated by a jury of experts, leading to the selection of winners and announcement of their awards at the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development 2022.

 

ESCWA Executive Secretary Rola Dashti had announced the initiation of this Award last March at the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development (AFSD), to support institutions and young entrepreneurs from Arab countries in their development of innovative digital Arabic content applications and products.

 

For questions, comments and suggestions: escwa-dac@un.org.

 

SUBMIT YOUR PROJECTS!

 

Participants can submit their applications by 30 September 2021.

 

WSA Young Innovators is a special recognition for young social entrepreneurs under 26 years of age, using ICTs to take action on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Together with the WSA winners of each year, they are honored as outstanding digital innovation with social impact.

 

The WSA Young Innovators call closed this year with nearly 270 applications from 76 countries. An especially selected youth expert jury evaluated all applications carefully and selected 5 WSA Young Innovators.

 

The 5 winners of the WSA Young Innovators 2020 have a strong trend focusing on health impact solutions around the globe - ranging from Messages and Voice services about prenatal conditions using six indigenous languages for pregnant women and nursing mothers in Nigeria to making dentistry e-learning accessible for those who do not have access to proper equipment and laboratories in Syria. Creative use of digital innovation makes the top 5 young entrepreneurs under the age of 26 exceptional impact change makers worldwide.

 

SEE HERE ALL WSA WINNERS 2020!

 

Together with the 40 winners of WSA, the winners of the WSA Young Innovators 2020 will present their solutions and get awarded at the WSA Global Congress 2021, March 22-24, 2021.

 

AI, BIG DATA AND MACHINE LEARNING - THE WSA TOP 40 OF 2020 UTILIZE TECHNOLOGY WITH SMART CONTENT TO HACK THE WORLDWIDE GAPS

 

Modern technology combined with a social cause and smart content not only solves problems, it enhances equality, information access and inclusion. The WSA Winners 2020 provide a meaningful selection of worldwide content driven applications with positive impact – 40 solutions from 26 countries made it to the worldwide top 40.

 

The challenges of 2020 have caused the world to rethink its systems and structures. Especially digital content has become a real problem solver, be it for remote working, online learning, healthcare or creating more sustainability. The 40 WSA Winners 2020 focus on the world’s most pressing issues – be it climate change, Health, Agriculture or Gender Equality - and providing digital solutions to react to the global pandemic.

 

Digital impact solutions range from AI enabled lung monitory system from Finland to Big Data & deep learning language-free pedagogical training program for learning early math abilities independent of language proficiency from Luxembourg, from gamifying saving from Chile to utilizing Big Data to offer integrative support for travellers with disabilities and senior travellers solution from Israel.

 

This is just a small selection of the content driven services and use of digital means to provide a positive impact offered by the 40 WSA Winners.

 

The 40 winners from 26 countries, selected from almost 350 nominations from 182 participating countries, offer a perfect diameter of how digital innovation solves challenges in the 21st century.


SEE HERE ALL WSA WINNERS 2020!

 

“The WSA Winners combine two major focus points - the commitment on the UN SDGs and solving societies issues with smart content application. Evaluated by an international expert Jury in 2 stages – a multi-stakeholder college unique in terms of diversity and background – the 40 WSA Winners have been tried for sustainability, aim, technical and strategic finesse. This year’s challenges show more than ever how much digital means can offer progress and solutions. This year’s WSA Winners present a wonderful showcase of purpose driven innovation and entrepreneurship.“ WSA Chairman Peter A. Bruck states.

 

The final jury phase concluded in an online five days meetings of 31 international high level experts, deciding in a democratic and transparent process on the most powerful and content rich solutions 2020.

 

 

 

The WSA Winners of 2020 will present their innovations and receive their awards at the WSA Global Congress 2021 (March 22-24, 2021). The Congress will gather social entrepreneurs, ICT experts and policy makers, young changemakers and digital problem solvers from all around the world to discuss and share how ICTs and interactive innovations can have a positive and sustainable impact on society.

 

WSA ONLINE JURY RESULTS SHOWCASE IMPACT THROUGH DIGITAL CONTENT

 

More than ever, we need to work on closing global divides - be it in terms of access, gender, knowledge or wealth. Digital innovation and content driven applications can serve as a forceful driver for reaching the UN SDGs.

 

17 UN SDGs. Over 75 countries. 340 + nominations. 131 shortlisted social digital solution. - Focusing on digital content, user value, local impact and contribution to the achievement of the UN SDGs, these outstanding best practice solutions have been selected for the WSA Shortlist by the international WSA Online Jury.

 

Find out what made it to the top 15 - 20 in each WSA category in terms of local solutions using digital content to close the worldwide gaps, make a beneficial impact on their communities.

 

The WSA shortlist 2020 provides a unique global selection of how digital applications work towards solving local issues - globally!

 

 

WSA SHORTLIST 2020

 

 

In the next step, the WSA Shortlist will be reviewed by the 38 international experts across the globe to select the 40 WSA Winners - the WSA Grand Jury Meeting.

 

WSA Call 2020 Statistics

The European Young Innovators Festival 2020, Graz brought together the pan-European community of young innovators who use digital technology to achieve the UN SDGs.

All 16 European Young Innovators pitched in front of a high-level international Jury at the Festival, being evaluated once more regarding their Pitch, their Product and the Team in general.

 

Here are the two European Young Innovators 2020, who convinced the European Young Innovators Festival Jury the most!

 

European Young Innovator 2020 - AirCare!*

 

*in the category WSA Nomination under 30 years of age

Know what you breathe! Air pollution is hard to detect for a person. 90% of the world’s population is exposed to air pollution over the safe limits, causing 7 million people dying prematurely every year. By aggregating air pollution data from the government and satellite measuring, AirCare from North Macedonia provides understandable air quality information and precautions in over 40 countries, triggering movements for better air policy across the Balkans.

European Young Innovator 2020 - Fit für Immer!*

 

*in the category Young Innovators under 26 yrs of age

Digital entertainment for old people´s homes. With an aging population, countries like Germany are struggling to provide sufficient workforce capacities in the health sector. Fit für Immer supports residential homes with an easy to use digital entertainment program, specially designed for the needs of the elderly – engaging quality videos instruct the elderly on different task like sports, singing and relaxation exercises.

 

16 European Young Innovators 2020

Check out the European Young Innovators Festival 2020, Graz

DIGITAL CONTENT FOR THE UN SDG’s - THE NEXT GENERATION OF CHANGE MAKERS

 

The WSA Young Innovators is a special recognition for young social entrepreneurs under 26 years of age, using ICTs to take action on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

 

Check out the Young Innovators that made it to the second round of WSA Young Innovators Online Jury!

 

 

WSA YOUNG INNOVATORS SHORTLIST 2020

 

 

The WSA Young Innovators call closed this year with 269 applications from 76 countries. Read more about the WSA Young innovators Call 2020 Statistics.

To showcase young entrepreneurship and strengthen social impact innovation in Europe, this year WSA invited the WSA National Experts from Europe  to nominate outstanding young European Entrepreneurs, additionally to the 8 WSA categories. Here are the nominees 2020 nominated as "WSA Youth Innovation for Europe”.

 

The challenges of 2020 have caused Europe to rethink its systems and structures. Especially digital content has become a real problem solver, be it for remote working, online learning, healthcare or creating more sustainability. With the regional initiative of the European Young Innovators, WSA connects and highlights purpose driven digital entrepreneurship across Europe.

 

Ranging from using AI for healthcare diagnostics from Romania, a data-driven virtual respiratory clinic from Spain, a foreign student platfrom from Denmark to an app for reaching the one trillion tree goal from Germany, these nominees showcase how European Youth Entrepreneurship offers solutions for a future Europe – Innovative, Inclusive and for a better society.

 

From Serbia to Lithuania, from Belarus and Poland, this diameter of digital European Youth Excellence presents outstanding digital solutions with relevance and immediate impact in their communities.

 

SPECIAL category: WSA Youth Innovation for Europe nominees list

 


 

The nominated projects from this category "WSA Youth Innovation for Europe" together with the best European nominations from WSA under 30 years of age, as well as the best of WSA Young Innovators European applications were presented to the special WSA European Young Innovators jury at the end of October 2020, and the best 16 projects will be recognized as European Young Innovators 2020 at the European Young Innovators Festival Nov 30 - Dec 2.
 

The European Young Innovators Festival brings together the pan-European community of young innovators who use digital technology to achieve the UN SDGs. With the regional initiative of the European Young Innovators (EYI), WSA connects and highlights purpose driven digital entrepreneurship across Europe.

 

 

Join European Young Innovators Festival now!

Digital. Purpose Driven. European. The European Young Innovators Winners 2020 present outstanding digital solutions with relevance and immediate impact in their communities. With local content and smart technology, the 16 winners offer solutions to improve the daily life in our societies.

 

EYI Winners list

 

WSA European Young Innovators Winners focus on tackling the UN SDGs:

 

 

Learning through enjoyment. Learning for personal growth. Learning for a better and sustainable life.

This year's winners show a strong trend to rewnew outdated systems of education, using new technologies to provide interactive, digital and modern content for learning. From learning apps for children, entrepreneurs and specialized future doctors in specific fields of the medicine to dynamic languages apps,  and interactive games where to build new societies by encouraging good habits, the European Young Innovators Winners 2020  give a new definition to learning .

 

 

 

European Young Innovators Winners 2020 - represented countries

 

European Young Innovators Winners 2020 - represented countries

 

 

 

Social inclusion is a real and achievable goal for European Young Innovators Winners.

The WSA European Young Innovators are tackling climate action by working on sustainable agriculture, apps to monitor air pollution, tree planting fund raisers or lowering CO2 footprints by changing peoples  habits.  By digitizing the child care sector, by providing elderly people's homes with digital entertainment solutions or by enabling easy communication between agricultural workers with farmers, the 16 winners of the European Young Innovators offer intuitive services and use digital means to provide a positive impact.

 

 

Hacking the Gender Gap, facilitating Culture and Health - it is possible - with Digital Innovation.

 

The European Young Innovators focus on Europes most pressing needs - and provide digital solutions also for hacking the gender gap. They empower teenage girls through an active learning platform without borders, and encourage woman to feel secure to reach for manager level positions by developing new personal skills on a personal development platform.

 

With the content of the Eurpean Young Innovators, exploring culture has been extendend by the dimension of augmented reality, offering a new horizon of exploring the past, while AI for smarter healthcare lets medical specialists and technology work better together to improve outcomes for patients.

 

European Young Innovators Winners 2020

 

 

European Young Innovators Jury Grand Jury

 

“The European Young Innovators combines two major perspectives in its initiative - first the commitment on the UN SDGs through Youth and the positive shaping of the future of Europe. The UN SDGs must be our measurement – in terms of what to look at and where to look. Today we are living in a completely different environment – this year’s challenges show more than ever how much digital means can offer progress and solutions. Hence, it is more important than ever to evaluate what is excellent content that really offers solutions and impact. Qualitative, local content has become the key and permanent issue. This year’s European Young Innovators present a wonderful showcase of purpose driven innovation and entrepreneurship.“ WSA Chairman Peter A. Bruck states.

 

 

JOIN EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS FESTIVAL GRAZ 2020

 

This year has proven more than ever, how purpose driven digital solutions offer not only means of development and progress, but provide real solutions for global issues. Meet the WSA nominees 2020, a global spectre of digital content that counteracting local and global issues.

WSA 2020 NOMINEES  - MORE THAN 340 DIGITAL INNOVATIONS FROM OVER 75+ COUNTRIES

 

 

 

WSA CALL 2020

 

 

 

Every year, the WSA National Experts select the best practices of their respective countries to nominate them for the WSA categories - A national selection of local digital content that drives development, solves local and global issues and contributes significantly to the UN SDGs. Enjoy this truly global overview of purpose driven digital innovation!

 

 

This year WSA National Experts from 77 countries nominated over 342 social digital solutions. Find here the first stats of this years nominations for each category!

 

 

 

 

Combining an ongoing series of international events and activities with a global network of start-ups, social entrepreneurs, mentors, jurors, speakers, experts, government leaders, academia and civil society, WSA is an international platform for ICTs Entrepreneurship with impact on society - showcasing best practices worldwide: Here are the WSA 2020 nominations sorted by regions!

 

 

 

 

WSA YOUNG INNOVATORS CALL 2020

The WSA Young Innovators is a special recognition for young social entrepreneurs under 26 years of age, using ICTs to take action on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Together with the WSA winners of each year, they are honored for their outstanding digital innovation with social impact at the WSA Global Congress.

 

The WSA Young Innovators call closed this year with 269 applications from 76 countries. An especially selected youth expert jury will evaluate all applications carefully and select 5 WSA Young Innovators.

 

Below are the WSA Young Innovators 2020 applications sorted by regions!

 

 

 

WSA 2020 NOMINEES  - MORE THAN 340 DIGITAL INNOVATIONS FROM OVER 75+ COUNTRIES