i3 - March/April 2020 - 33

By Ellen Savage

Policy

P O L I CY N E WS

CES and the World
Bank Group
Announce The Global
Tech Challenge

Top to Bottom: Majority World CIC/Alamy, Bill Bachman/Alamy, Tom Werner/Getty Images.

ES is the global stage for innovation, and
CES and the World Bank Group are calling
on the tech community to solve some of the
biggest issues of our time. The Global Tech Challenge,
announced at CES 2020, offers funding, market-entry
support, and access to technology buyers in three key areas
- digital health, gender equality and resilience.

CES showcases the newest and most
growth and rapid urbanization alone
innovative developments in technology.
could put 1.3 billion people and $158
But the benefits and opportunities of
trillion in assets at risk.
technology are not equally distributed
across the globe. The World Bank Group
Saving Lives with Tech
invests roughly $60 billion each year in
CTA and the World Bank believe we
over 100 developing countries through
have a duty to ensure digital health
public and private partners. The comadvances reach citizens in underdebined power of CES and the World Bank
veloped countries.
Group can galvanize innovators, governGender equity is a critical global
ments, companies and people - from
issue. In least-developed countries,
both developed and develwomen are 33% less likely
oping countries - to
The World Bank to use the internet than
change our world for
Group invests men. And in some parts of
the better.
the globe, the digital genroughly $60
Why is the Global Tech
der gap is widening.
billion each
Challenge focused on
Across different sectors,
year in over 100 technology products are
digital health, gender
developing
equality and resilience?
often designed without
Because they are three of
consideration of women's
countries
the largest problems facthrough public specific needs. We all
ing our world, and ones
know that digital inclusion
and private
which technology can
can unlock tremendous
partners.
play a key role in solving.
opportunities - and now
Technology brings health
is the time to seize them.
solutions to regions and
The heartbreaking
populations which in the past were diffiwildfires in Australia are an illustration
cult to reach. More than half of the
of the impact of climate change.
world's female population (52%) is still
Innovative and disruptive technologies
not using the internet. And in the last
can transform the way countries and
20 years, climate-related disasters have
communities build resilience to climate
caused an estimated $2.9 trillion in
risks and increasingly intense and fredirect losses, and by 2050, population
quent disasters.
C TA . t e c h / i 3

i3_0320_Policy_News_WorldBank.indd 33

The Global Tech
Challenge focuses on
gender equality, resilience and digital health.

Innovators with solutions to address digital health, gender equity and resilience are
encouraged to enter the Global Tech
Challenge. The Gender Equity and
Resilience Challenges will open for entries
in the first quarter of this year. Later this
year, finalists will be selected to conduct
pilot projects and build commercial projects. Selected companies will receive market-entry support and funding to pilot
solutions in local markets of developing
countries. And to gain even more exposure,
the finalists will be featured at CES 2021.
GO ONLINE: To enter the Global Tech
Challenge, visit CES.tech/
Global-Tech-Challenge.
MARCH/APRIL 2020

3/13/20 3:50 PM

https://www.ces.tech/Global-Tech-Challenge.aspx https://www.ces.tech/Global-Tech-Challenge.aspx https://www.ces.tech/Global-Tech-Challenge.aspx http:// https://cta.tech/i3

i3 - March/April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i3 - March/April 2020