i3 - March/April 2021 - 21

THREE WINNERS
OF THE FIRST CES/
WORLD BANK
'GLOBAL TECH
CHALLENGE'

This and previous page: Mr. Cole Photographer/Getty Images.

A digital health project in East Africa, a resilience program focused on sustainable
innovation in India and a global gender equality venture are the recipients of the first
Global Tech Challenge, a partnership of CTA and the World Bank Group. The
awards, each accompanied by financial support for the service projects, were
selected from more than 1000 applications.
The recipients, announced at CES 2021, are all focused on using technology to
achieve economic and social values.

● Seventeen
technology companies
from 11 countries will work
on projects that include
point-of-care diagnostics,
imaging and clinical
decision support tools for
East African healthcare
providers. The International Finance Corporation, the private sector
arm of the World Bank
Group, will coordinate the
venture as part of its
" TechEmerge Health
Challenge " that matches
health tech innovators
with health care providers
in East Africa to conduct
pilot projects and build
commercial partnerships.
More than 20 private
healthcare providers in
Ethiopia, Kenya and
Uganda have signed on
to the program and plan
to work with health tech
companies.
● The " TechEmerge
Resilience India

Challenge " is aimed at
developing solutions for
a country that suffers
from severe natural
disasters, particularly
cyclones and monsoonal
flooding. COVID-19 has
added another strain on
the country's ability to
respond to life-threatening events. The projects
will focus on technologies such as AI, IoT,
drones, 3D printing and
digital platforms plus
other new approaches to
handle disaster
management. The
National Disaster
Management Authority
of India is collaborating
on this project with the
World Bank and CES. IBM
will provide cloud credits
and technical assistance.
● The " Solutions for
Women " award
recognized three
projects that seek to
eliminate barriers to

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digital equality, linked to
the availability of
infrastructure, financial
constraints, interest and
perceived relevance of
digital technologies. The
three projects are " Bridge
for Billions " (a digital
entrepreneurship
ecosystem and
mentoring platform for
early-stage entrepreneurs); " MicroMentor (a
free mentoring platform
that connects entrepreneurs and volunteer
business mentors and
has supported more than
700 female entrepreneurs from more than 70
countries); and
" Soochnapreneur " (a
Digital Empowerment
Foundation program that
connects India's rural
citizens to information,
rights, government
entitlements and other
necessary digital
services).

businesses, start-ups and non-profit organizations. Among the 80 global executives
supporting the public/private initiative are
IBM Executive Chairman Ginni Rometty,
McKinsey Global Managing Partner Kevin
Sneader, SAP CEO Christian Klein and
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and other
top officials from corporate and non-government organizations.
The group is focused on " for good " initiatives in five categories: education, gender
equality, environmental protection, economic/social inclusiveness and the future of
work. Among the goals is combatting malicious use of technology.
In its December 2020 update, the Tech for
Good signatories vowed to push for products
and services that respect principles such as
" security by design " and " privacy by design, "
sustainability, and the protection of consumers' freedom of choice. Their manifesto singled out support for " taking advantage of the
technological revolution to tackle health and
environmental challenges " and to ensure
technologies " promote social, professional
and economic inclusiveness, " such as support
of people with disabilities. " The group also
wants to " broaden tech literacy and educate
as many people as possible " on the responsible use of data and technologies.
Atop the group's agenda is the need to
" create the conditions for future deployment
and equal access to technology through collective, multilateral and multi-stakeholder
initiatives. These need to be based on ethics,
transparency, open dialogue and the use of
collective intelligence. "
" We call for the international community to come together to preserve an accessible, free, open, secure, resilient,
interoperable and un-splintered cyberspace as a contributive and common good
of humanity, " the group said in a December
2020 update. " Technology has been for
decades a powerful force for human progress, " according to the new Tech for Good
manifesto. The document also points to
the recent vaccines against COVID-19 as
" the latest sign of how technological innovation is critical for our wellbeing. "
Businesses can prioritize technology solutions, says McKinsey, " that simultaneously
improve their bottom line and the outcomes
for society. "
MARCH/APRIL 2021

3/11/21 12:31 PM

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

i3 - March/April 2021

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