ITU today announced the winners of its prestigious ITU Telecom World Awards, which recognize excellence and innovation in ICT solutions with social impact. The Awards were announced by ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao at a buzzing ceremony in the presence of H.E. Air Chief Marshal Prajin Juntong, Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Minister of Digital Economy and Society, Air Chief Marshal Thares Punsri, Chairman NBTC and ITU elected officials at the close of ITU Telecom World 2016.
"It is tremendously exciting to see so many ideas, innovations and so much talent and creativity all in one place," Zhao said. "I hope that winning our Award and having their innovative solutions recognized by global experts will help these talented innovators grow and scale up their businesses, contributing fresh ideas and vision to our digital economy. I wish them every success."
"We are making education accessible to all children around the world," said Alex Masika, head of business development at BRCK, the maker of rugged wireless and mobile wifi devices in Kenya and the winner of Telecom World 2016's Global SME Award. "I am happy that the impact we are making has been recognized."
Winners, who took turns pitching their innovations during the event, were selected by an expert
jury. ITU Telecom World Awards were open to all exhibitors and sponsors at ITU Telecom World in Bangkok. The awards were presented in three different categories:
- The Global SME Award, recognising the most promising innovative solution from an SME.
- Thematic Awards – open to SMEs and large corporations -- for the most promising innovative solutions with social impact in eEducation, eHealth, eGovernment and disaster prevention/communications.
- Host Country SME Award for the best solution chosen by Thailand.
Recognition of Excellence Certificates were presented for the best innovative exhibitor within each National Pavilion.
The ITU Telecom World 2016 Award winners and finalists are:
-
Global SME Award Winner: BRCK, Kenya, represented by Alex Masika
-
Global SME Award Finalist: gnúbila (be|ys group), France, represented by David Manset
-
Global SME Award Finalist: ulalaLAB, Korea, represented by Sophia Park
-
Thematic Award Winner eHealth: Neofect, Korea, represented by Kyuhee Lee
-
Thematic Award Winner eEducation: Academic Bridge, Rwanda, represented by Mariam M. Muganga
-
Thematic Award Winner eGovernment: Nile Center for Technology Research – E15 Project, Sudan, represented by Elwaleed Bashir Ahmed
-
Thematic Award Winner Disaster Recovery/Prevention: MasterCard, USA, represented by Umar Hashmi
-
Host Country Award Winner : ServisHero Co.,Ltd, Thailand, represented by Khun Noppol Toochinda
-
Host Country Award Finalist: Anywhere 2 go Co.,Ltd.(Claim Di), Thailand
-
Host Country Award Finalist: PRO-toys Co., Ltd., Thailand, represented by Boonchai Wongbawornkiat
Recognition of Excellence Certificates:
- Bangabandhu Satellite Launching Project, Bangladesh, represented by H.E. Begum Tarana Halim, Minster for Posts & Telecommunications
- 3D Factory Co.,Ltd., Korea, represented by Sang Hyun Park
- Academic Bridge, Rwanda, represented by Mariam M. Muganga
- BESTCOMP GROUP, Azerbaijan, represented by Najafova
- Bisa, Ghana, represented by Dennis Addo
- BRCK, Kenya, represented by Alex Masika
- Fedironics Intelligent Metering Company, Nigeria, represented by Emmanuel Ifediora Ugochukwu
- Ministry of Transport, Thailand
- Protonics, Zimbabwe, represented by Chingore
- NexTech, Japan, represented by Kento Takahashi
- Potevio Company Limited, China, Luo Lin
- Telecommunications Infrastructure Company, Iran, represented by Susan Ayerman
The ITU Telecom World Awards will continue to play an integral part at future ITU Telecom events, supporting innovative ICT solutions with social impact. For more information on ITU Telecom World 2016 click
here.
ITU Telecom World heads next to Busan, Republic of Korea, where it will take place from 25-28 September, 2017.
