Opportunity: World Summit Award (WSA) For Young Digital Entrepreneurs
Type: Award
Value: Invitation to the WSA Global Congress and more
Location: Austria
Who Can Apply: UN member states
About The Award
WSA selects and promotes local digital innovation improving society. It is a non-monetary award system with a focus on sustainable knowledge transfer through a worldwide network. Winners benefit not from a one-time financial reward, but a lifelong partnership and integration.
WSA is a nomination based award system, eligible for all UN member states.
Each country has a national WSA representation – the WSA National Expert. The WSA national experts are carrying out the local pre-selection for WSA, through national contests or national Expert panel selection. To participate in WSA, you need to be nominated by a WSA National Expert as the best national digital application in one of the 8 categories.
Each country is eligible to nominate one project/solution per WSA category.
Please note that a country’s local deadline for application may vary from the WSA Global deadline.
WSA categories reflect the UN WSIS action lines and are updated regularly to meet the development of the UN Goals. For the edition of the World Summit Awards 2021 the categories are:
- GOVERNMENT & CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT – services | open data | democratic participation
- HEALTH & WELL BEING – medical care | sport | lifestyle
- LEARNING & EDUCATION – knowledge | science | skills
- ENVIRONMENT & GREEN ENERGY – climate | sustainable resources | agriculture
- CULTURE & TOURISM – heritage | entertainment | subcultures
- SMART SETTLEMENTS & URBANIZATION – mobility | productive work | sustainable living
- BUSINESS & COMMERCE – innovative services | security | finance | marketing
- INCLUSION & EMPOWERMENT – diversity | gender | justice | human right
Requirements
- WSA is open to any company, organisation or individual in any UN and UNESCO member state.
- The participation in the WSA Young Innovators is restricted to any entrepreneur, company, student group or project team, where at least one of the founding members and the majority of the team is under the age of 26 (born on or after January 1, 1995) from any of the UN and UNESCO member states.
- WSA is strictly restricted to digital applications with a strong benefit for society and a high local value.
- Submissions for the WSA can contain mobile applications, sms based products, webpages, databases, kiosk installations, wearables, IoT etc. There is no limitation regarding the platforms or channels the projects work with.
- The projects can be max. 2 years old at the date of nomination.
- No ideas, drafts, demonstrations or concepts are accepted, all submitted projects must be market ready or already on the market.
- WSA evaluates and highlights the content, user value and local impact of digital solutions.
How To Apply
- Write a mail to WSA office to be introduced to your WSA National Expert. Your National Expert will guide you through the local steps needed to apply for WSA. Some countries also offer application through a national contest or other forms of application.
- Your project will be reviewed and evaluated by the WSA National Expert if it meets the eligibility criteria and standards of WSA. After careful evaluation, the WSA National Expert will decide if he wishes to nominate your project for WSA, based on innovation, local impact and quality. If your project is nominated in one of the WSA categories, your WSA National Expert will enter your data in the WSA Contest Database. Please make sure to provide your WSA National Expert with valid contact data.
- Upon nomination, you will receive a confirmation email inviting you to complete your application. Please make sure to check your spam folder. After submitting your application, you are officially enrolled in the global WSA. An especially assembled international Jury will then evaluate all nominated and completed projects and choose the 40 WSA winners per year.
Deadline
30th September 2021