Siemens Stiftung "empowering People Award" - Indian Finalist Among 23 Shortlised From 90 Countries
Online, September 19, 2013 (Newswire.com) - The finalists of the "empowering people. Award" have been selected.
Prizes for the best technological solutions for development cooperation will be awarded in Nairobi on October 30th.
India Entry - SMSGYAN is one of the 23 finalists that have made it from a total of 800 entries from 90 countries! Attached is a note on the India finalist and a graph that indicates that India is among top 3 in terms of participation.
SMSGYAN - Information & Communication (India)
Internet-based information offline via SMS. Mobile phone owners without Internet access send their enquiry via SMS to a central number. The system checks the World Wide Web for appropriate information and returns relevant results in a reduced format via SMS. One enquiry costs 1 euro-cent; the monthly flat rate is 0.30 Euros.
Online platform to exhibit submitted solutions from around the world and to connect stakeholders. The online community also has the opportunity to select its favourite entry from among the 23 finalists as of now.
The Siemens Stiftung organized an international competition to find simple but intelligent technological solutions with the capacity to sustainably improve the lives of people in developing countries. The international jury will announce the top three winners at the Award Ceremony in Nairobi. They will receive prize money of 100,000 EUR in total. From now until October 21st, anyone can take part in the online voting and choose their personal favourite for the special community prize. As a next step, an online platform will be developed to bring together inventors and users of the technical solutions and put them into contact with potential investors and multipliers. The Siemens Stiftung and its cooperation partners will take an active role in this venture.
The criteria used by the international jury of experts to evaluate over 800 submissions from 90 countries were not only technical quality and environmental aspects but also the economic and social potential of the respective inventions.
"The entries on our shortlist illustrate in an impressive manner how simple technical solutions can dramatically change living conditions for the better. They provide access to water, energy, health, education and communication in a practicable and cost-efficient manner. They also create opportunities for the establishment of small businesses, new ways of generating income and improvements in daily life", explains Rolf Huber, Managing Director of the Siemens Stiftung. "We will therefore support the further development of selected technical solutions and we hope that partners from around the world will join us in this initiative."
The Siemens Stiftung is currently setting up a database in which all the submitted technological solutions which have been classified by experts as best-practice solutions will be published. Developers and users of interesting products and solutions as well as potential investors and development organizations are to benefit from this database by receiving information about useful applications and technical possibilities as well as about varied experiences in implementation on site.
Rolf Huber: "We are convinced that transparency, partnership-based collaboration and knowledge transfer are key requirements for a targeted improvement of living conditions. By launching the "empowering people. Award", we have already been able to set up a network connecting interested persons around the world with important players in development cooperation to form an active community. Everyone can cast a vote online for the community prize as of now."
The Prize Winners will be honoured at the Award Ceremony, which will be held in Nairobi on October 30st 2013. The first three winners will receive 50,000, 30,000 and 20,000 Euros respectively. 20 further finalists will each receive 5,000 Euros each.
As part of the Award Ceremony, a workshop will be held together with the
Social Impact Development Group, an initiative of the Siemens Stiftung and Ashoka. In this workshop, the inventors will have the opportunity to discuss their inventions with social entrepreneurs and to further develop their own business approaches.
A vote can now be cast for the community prize at www.empowering-people-award.siemens-stiftung.org. The winner will receive freely selectable technical equipment to the value of 3,000 Euros for his or her project.