Greater Manchester to host prestigious World Summit Awards 2022

BY SPECIAL invitation the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM), will host and bring the WSA Global Congress (@WSAoffice) to Greater Manchester and the United Kingdom for the first time in 2022.

Winning finalists from around the world will come to Greater Manchester in a three-day global event, featuring ICT experts, start-ups, innovation leaders and visionaries, and governmental representatives to join together for the prestigious WSA Global Congress where the world’s best innovators and visionaries will show how digital innovation makes a real impact globally.

Digitalisation, digital inclusion, and innovation are matters that concern us all. To positively disrupt preconceptions and make the world a better place through creativity, innovation and technology development needs a world-wide exchange and knowledge transfer of ground-breaking ideas and platforms from around the world.

If digital innovation is driven by purpose, digital content and technology have the potential to create more equal, just, and above all, sustainable societies. The focus on solving local challenges and enhance digital inclusion enables a positive added value for societies globally.

WSA Chairman, Professor Peter A. Bruck:

“By building a unique global network of national and corporate experts, NGOs, governments and professional associations, WSA presents best emerging quality content & digital innovation from over 184 UN-member states and supports a global movement for sustainable digital solutions.

“At the WSA Global Congress delegates and Greater Manchester innovators and students will participate in a transformative learning journey and join a global, multi-stakeholder community. The Global Congress will review the world’s best innovations & the possibilities of purpose-driven innovation and see best-practice winners from around the world.

“Manchester is a leading crucible of modern digital innovation, and the WSA will engage and share the power of smart, digital and social solutions from Greater Manchester and globally in a world-wide Congress taking place for the first time in Manchester.”

To further Greater Manchester’s priority of replacing digital exclusion with digital inclusion and bring focus to the imperatives of purpose-driven innovation, WSA and Greater Manchester Combined Authority will bring together a worldwide network of innovators that will also showcase some of the outstanding innovation that supports the UN’s SDG’s and also, world-leading technologies from Greater Manchester, and the world.

Mayor Andy Burnham would like to thank those individuals who helped bring the World Summit Awards to Greater Manchester including Shalini Khemka, Founder & CEO of E2E, Sacha Lord, the Night Time Economic Adviser for Greater Manchester, Ralph Simon, Founder & CEO of Mobilium Global and Dame Asha Khemka DBE DL.

According to Mayor Burnham:

“It is critical that the 2022 World Summit Awards not be a successful single event but should also leave a sustainable legacy for young people in Greater Manchester and help enable them to survive and thrive in the expanding digital world.

“We want to make life easier, faster, more connected, more efficient, safer and more sustainable for everyone who lives, works and visits here – and digital is central to that. That’s why we are doing digital differently, delivering for the people of Greater Manchester and realising the city-region’s potential through our infrastructure, skills and culture.”

The Mayor believes this can be achieved through efforts such as the ‘Jobseekers to Job Creators’ campaign led by Shalini Khemka of E2E and Dame Asha Khemka DBE DL, a leading UK educator, which will launch today in partnership with the World Summit Awards. E2E will work alongside the Mayoral team in Greater Manchester and Diane Modahl MBE, Chair of the Greater Manchester’s Young Person’s Task Force, in an ambitious programme to help educate and develop digital skills in our youth from an early age.

Out of 600 nominees worldwide, 45 social tech startups were awarded as WSA Winners. 45 award-winning international teams present their apps and solutions, carefully selected in a three-stage WSA jury process by international experts & an international WSA jury. Their solutions not only drive the achievement of the UN SDGs, but also show that digital creativity can make a positive impact on society.

Among them, the outstanding UK inclusion product WelcoMe – Inclusive Customer Service Platform, a low-cost web-based service enabling any person with a disability to forewarn participating businesses of their visit and special needs.

The WSA Winners 2020 include agricultural support systems from Thailand, language-free pedagogical training programs from Luxembourg and Israel and AI and Big Data solutions for to enable patients with chronic respiratory conditions to easily monitor their lung conditions from Finland and China. Four of the Winners 2020 provide girls and women platforms to voice their opinions and create a positive change in our world – Her Impact, Future Heroes, Natal Cares, and Diversio.

The above is just a small selection, all 45 outstanding digital innovations pitched live at the WSA Global Congress and were reviewed by an especially assembled expert Jury to compete for the honor of becoming WSA Global Champions.

All winners are honoured at the – this time virtual – festive Gala ceremony on the evening of March 24 2020, 19:30 CET.

Among the guests of honour will be Dr. Marielza Oliveira, Director for Partnerships and Operational Programme Monitoring Communications and Information, UNESCO, Paula Ingabire, Minister of ICT and Innovation, Rwanda, Leonore Gewessler, Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austria, and Matteo Landi, World Food Forum Global Coordinator, Italy.

Global opinion leaders such as the Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union, Houlin Zhao, the EU Commissioner for Innovation, Mariya Gabriel and the UN Envoy for Youth, Jayathma Wickramanayake honored the WSA winners for their outstanding work for the UN SDGs during the Congress.

The WSA 2021 live stream can be viewed online here from 18:30 GMT