The ITU Innovation Challenges 2020 is a global open competition platform for innovators and ecosystem builders to present their ideas and projects. This is an opportunity for you to be empowered and to transform your community into a thriving digital society.
The 2020 edition of the ITU Innovation Challenge will be taking place amid a global pandemic caused by Covid-19. This has resulted in stress on value chains and countries’ readiness for a digital economy, significantly affecting social conditions worldwide. Global supply, production, consumption, and delivery chains are disrupted. Traditional economies are struggling, as industries have not been digitalized and infrastructure is inadequate to cope with current stress levels.
Policy-makers and innovators worldwide are under pressure. Their communities must embrace a digital economy so that a semblance of normalcy can be maintained in these uncertain conditions. Therefore, the overall theme of the 2020 ITU innovation challenges is Rethinking the digital economy’s value chains during the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is open to innovators and ecosystem builders.
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The ITU Innovation Challenges
The innovation provides three different challenge opportunities for participants to win;
Digital change-maker challenge: For innovators with ideas that create digital impact in their communities.
Ecosystem best practice challenge: For ecosystem builders with good practices that nurture, and with enabling environment for innovators in their communities.
Women in technology challenge: For individual women tech innovators and eligible startups with digital projects that create impact for women in their communities.
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What To Benefit
Winners will attend a four-day global flagship ITU event to learn, network, innovate and scale up.
Winners will attend a four-day virtual Global Innovation Forum; where they will participate in capacity-building workshops and pitch their proposals to a global audience of experts and network with decision-makers.
These are the benefits you will get when you attend:
- Virtual networking event and onboarding.
- Cocreation workshops with winners on new skills and capacity.
- Workshops on storytelling and practice in pitching projects.
- High-level dialogue, pitching of their project, expert talks, networking, media corner, partner corner, matching of winners with potential resources.
- 4-day daily subsistence allowance for participation in events at UN country-level daily rate.
- Be engaged in developing a remarkable video story about their project.
- Some activities will be streamed, others will be private and reserved for relevant categories of stakeholders.
- Support in identifying new partnership opportunities and networking with potential buyers, global delegates, investors, government representatives, and other attendees.
- Support during the event to help winners further develop their proposals; connect with mentors, ecosystem builders, and potential clients and investors; International recognition.
There will be a minimum of five winners per challenge. The final number of winners for each challenge is subject to the organizer’s discretion.
Winners will also join a global network of past winners and innovation champions. The network may offer access to additional resources and mentoring based on mutual interest.
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How It Works
- Submit your project or idea
- Gather a community
- Refine your idea through expert
- Submit your final proposal
- Then, jury selection and winner announcement
The deadline for the ITU Innovation Challenges 2020 is 31 July 2020. Innovators and ecosystem builders are encouraged to apply. You can read more and apply using this link. https://cocreate.itu.int/
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