COVID-19 literally shut down the largest cities in the world, and while the healthcare industry, first responders, governments, banks, businesses, and entire populations grappled with flattening the curve, technology companies sought to create innovative solutions aimed to combat and ease the effects of the global virus.

Cities and local communities bore the brunt of the virus, causing resource strains to occur, testing the very will of the governments.  Some city governments and local authorities were more successful than others in using technology to combat the virus. They effectively used technology, by employing sensors and data to trace the contacts of people infected with the coronavirus. At the same time, some cities are tracking and assisting in efforts to determine whether social distancing rules are being followed.

Some local authorities are analyzing pedestrian and vehicle flow and car park data, CCTV cameras, drones, cell phone usage and apps in order to measure social distancing and to track and enforce quarantines. Using technology along with community-led initiatives has helped contain the growth in numbers of effected people.

This award will recognize cities and localities that utilize technology aided solutions successfully in the fight against COVID-19. The nominee must demonstrate that the adopted technologies or solutions have produced clear positive impact on mitigating the impact of COVID-19 within their geographic locations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments, cities, localities and whole societies to seek effective solutions in the COVID-19 battle to include digital technologies to respond to the crisis. Navigating through these challenging times requires governments to adopt an open government approach and to use digital communication channels to provide reliable information on global and national COVID-19 developments. E-participation platforms can represent useful tools to engage with vulnerable groups online and to establish digital initiatives to collectively brainstorm for policy ideas to critical social and economic challenges.

Effective public-private partnerships, through sharing technologies, expertise and tools, can support governments in restarting the economy and rebuilding societies. Developing countries, in particular, will need international cooperation and support in mitigating the crisis. Therefore, regional, national and local project-based collaborations with private sector companies, international organizations and other stakeholders are necessary. In the long-term, governments need to accelerate the implementation of innovative digital technologies such as AI-powered technology, blockchain, and drones. Investments in these technologies can tremendously support the future resilience of the health economy and the public services delivery.

National and regional governments also work and coordinate with cities and help fund the delivery of not only urgently needed medical items, but also technologies and solutions deemed essential to fight and contain the spread of the SARS CoV-2 virus.

This award will recognize countries or regions that demonstrate vision and leadership with regard to using digital tools to successfully respond to the COVID-19 crisis, including engagement with vulnerable groups as well as implementing innovative digital technologies to address not only short-term concerns, but also to grow the resilience of society against future health crises in collaboration with industry and other stakeholders.

This award recognizes any companies or individuals who successfully utilize information and communications technology, artificial intelligence, big data or similar in the fight against COVID-19. Examples of solutions include telehealth apps, privacy-respecting social distancing enforcement, contact and tracing technologies, as well as vaccine and testing solutions. The nominee must demonstrate that the technology or solution has yielded a real impact on mitigating the impact of COVID-19.

This award recognizes successful partnerships between government and private sector entities in ICT. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a mechanism for government to procure and implement public infrastructure and/or services using the resources and expertise of the private sector. Where governments are facing ageing or lack of infrastructure and require more efficient services, a partnership with the private sector can help foster new solutions and bring finance. PPPs combine the skills and resources of both the public and private sectors through sharing of risks and responsibilities. This enables governments to benefit from the expertise of the private sector, and allows them to focus instead on policy, planning and regulation by delegating day-to-day operations.

PPPs can also help address longstanding barriers to the inclusion of persons with disabilities and the intersection with technological advancements, mitigate the negative effects from trade and technology change, as well as combatting cybercrime by leveraging multi-stakeholder partnerships to drive durable solutions and improve cooperation with industry and other stakeholders through information sharing initiatives, capacity-building programs, by employing responsible and equitable security vulnerability disclosure and remediation practices, and by jointly fostering technology innovations and investments that address global security challenges.

Other areas of private-public partnerships include new partnership opportunities with the ICT sector to deliver the technological transportation breakthroughs of tomorrow. PPPs can also help develop Local Innovation Ecosystems: The success of innovations often depends on the strength and development of the local innovation ecosystem, and public-private partnerships as government tools can effectively build ecosystems in a short period of time.

Individuals, academic institutions, corporations, NGOs or government authorities that have made a remarkable and successful effort at providing digital opportunities to those in need are eligible for this award. In order for the Digital Age to fulfill its promise, it must consider the unique challenges faced by diverse populations. Examples could include deployment of ICTs and Internet access among inner city populations, or in towns, rural areas or cities in developing and least-developed countries. This award also includes programs and initiatives that aid people with disabilities and others who face longstanding barriers to social inclusion. Digital Inclusion is defined as the “ability of individuals and groups to access and use information and communication technologies (ICTs). Digital inclusion encompasses not only access to the Internet but also the availability of hardware and software; relevant content and services; and training for the digital literacy skills required for effective use of ICTs.”

This award recognizes solutions enabling accessibility for those individuals who have traditionally not benefited from ICT. This award also seeks innovative solutions that create meaningful employment through ICT for those who have traditionally been underrepresented in the labor force. Of particular interest to WITSA are applications that embed inclusion and accessibility in the original design as opposed to retrofitting existing applications.

Individuals, academic institutions, corporations, NGOs or governments that have made a remarkable and successful effort at using ICTs as a tool to promote sustainable economic growth. Sustainable economic growth shall be defined as the ability to improve the financial and social well-being without compromising the prosperity or well-being of future generations; a sustainable economy is therefore one in which economic growth is decoupled from environmental impacts. Three key challenges are climate change, resource degradation and pollution.  At the heart of all three is energy efficiency and the role that ICTs may have.

This Award recognizes Individuals, healthcare institutions, academic institutions, corporations, NGOs or governments that have made remarkable and successful efforts at utilizing ICTs as a tool to promote health and health care such as telehealth, mHealth (mobile health), eHealth or through eLearning, electronic health records, big data, legal frameworks, or social media. Solutions utilized may range from provision of information to keep citizens healthy, to support for public health in communities, care and support systems in health facilities, and from all the above the data needed to inform management and policy-makers.

Disruption is changing the way we work, demanding businesses to move with speed and confidence, and continually innovate. The Digital Innovation Awards recognize businesses and entrepreneurs that have introduced noteworthy innovations in technology that advance business and IT. The Digital Innovation Awards showcase advances in the productivity and potential of business applications as well as technology that contributes significantly to improved efficiency, productivity and the performance of an organization, or more broadly helps with Fulfilling the Promise of the Digital Age for everyone.

The Digital Age is requiring new sets of skills, and adoption of new models of public education that emphasize coding, programming and computer science must be adopted. Contrary to popular belief, the digital gap is widening, putting pressure on countries to catch up. Public education must adopt new approaches to lifelong learning.

This award will be given to the best electronic learning project. We seek any innovative new technological tool, or any project that uses existing electronic learning tools in an innovative way. Such projects should facilitate and support learning through the use of information and communications technology.