Nominations Open for WSA Young Innovators Award

Deadline: 1-Sep-22

Nominations are now open for the WSA Young Innovators Award to select and promote 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.

Categories

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 WSA 2022 the categories are:

• Government & Citizen Engagement – services | open data | democratic participation
• Health & Well Being – medical care | sports | lifestyle
• Learning & Education – knowledge | knowledge | skills
• Environment & Green Energy – climate | sustainable resources | Agriculture
• Culture & Tourism – heritage | amusement | subcultures
• Smart Settlements & Urbanization – mobility | productive work | sustainable living
• Business & Commerce – innovative services | safety | financing | marketing
• Inclusion & Empowerment – diversity | gender | righteousness | human rights

Benefits

• Winners of the WSA Benefits
  • Invitation to the WSA Global Congress including :
    • Pitching seminars
    • Pitching session in front of an international audience during the Congress
    • A program of specially crafted workshops for the winners
    • Invitation to the prestigious award ceremony
    • Board and lodging for the duration of the Congress (only on-site events)
    • Eye to eye exchange with speakers, jurors and international guests
  • Integration into a network of internationally recognized digital content developers
  • Access to the WSA community of global experts and industry leaders in over 180 countries
  • Interaction with world-renowned sponsors and partners of the WSA community
  • Workshops specially shaped for the winners’ needs
  • A videoclip highlighting the winners’ projects
  • Special placement on WSA website, youtube channel and social media promotion
  • Long- term coverage within WSA editorial channels
• Nominees’ Benefits: A nomination for the WSA is already a win – these are the rewards
  • More coverage of your product. WSA provides nominees with press templates to help them to gain the attention of national media with support of the WSA national experts
  • WSA nominee seal to use on websites, social media channels and publications
  • Opportunity to receive feedback from the jurors.
  • Being nominated for the WSA means to be the best in the respective country in one of our 8 categories. Our experience has shown that this qualification can immensely improve outreach.

Which Projects Are Suitable For WSA?

• Submissions for the WSA can contain digital content applications with a clear impact on society, such as: apps, webpages, applications for wearables, kiosk installations, SMS based products, mobile games and interactive mobile productions. There is no limitation regarding the platforms or channels the projects work with.
• All submissions have to be launched products. No drafts, prototypes, demonstrations or unfinished projects can be accepted. The solution needs to prove that it is a working product and demonstrate some local impact.
• All submitted products must have been completed after Jan. 1, 2020. For a project or product completed earlier, the submitters have to document significant alterations and / or improvements and / or additions have been made in the period thereafter.
• A product can only be submitted for one category. In case of multiple submissions by the same organization, company or team, each product requires a separate registration. Submissions which have been nominated in the WSA in previous years cannot be submitted again. For a project which has been already submitted before, the submitters have to document significant alterations and / or improvements and / or additions.

Who Can Apply?

• WSA is open to any company, organization 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, 1996) from any of the UN and UNESCO 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.

For more information, visit https://wsa-global.org/contest/