The 2021 edition of the Global Innovation Forum, held by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) from 25 to 29 October, focused on "building partnerships to mainstream entrepreneurship" and named the winners of the 2021 ITU Innovation Challenges.
The forum highlighted three ways for countries to boost entrepreneurship, scale up digital technologies and drive economic development:
- Building bridges between academia, government, and corporate stakeholders;
- Supporting start-ups to access resources and scale up into the global market; and
- Fostering the national and regional innovation ecosystems to leverage technology for sustainable development.
The Global Innovation Forum called for collaboration to help countries build up their innovation capacities - in line with one of the key goals in ITU's Connect 2030 Agenda. The annual event has placed increasing emphasis on the vital role of tech entrepreneurship and innovation to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in driving sustainable digital transformation.
"Leveraging digital innovation and technology by SMEs is key to achieving the level of connectivity and digital transformation countries are striving for," said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.
"The 2021 ITU Global Innovation Forum puts entrepreneurs front and centre in an effort to help countries unlock opportunities and have competitive and high-growth SMEs that can accelerate progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals."
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, said: "Entrepreneurship is the engine of every thriving economy. Entrepreneurs seize opportunities, take risks, and creatively scope-out resources. They create start-ups that become SMEs and high-growth firms, that in turn create jobs and economic growth. They are the lifeblood of innovation."
The forum brought together change-makers from the ITU Innovation Challenges and the global community interested in digital entrepreneurship and innovation.
Meet the Global South Challenge winners
The Global South Challenge -one of the 2021 ITU Innovation Challenges- recognized innovators from developing countries in three main categories:
- #RecoverBetter
- mitigating the socio-economic impact and safeguarding people and their livelihoods
- enabling governments and communities to suppress the transmission of the virus.
The winners - announced at an awards ceremony on 29 October, are:
Each challenge category focused on how a specific community - from youth to entrepreneurial support groups - has accelerated digital transformation during the pandemic, paving the way for future-proof economies and societies.
Read more about the winning ideas.
About the 2021 edition
This year's forum brought together the private sector, academia, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders to exchange new insights, skills, tools, frameworks and case studies. This year, it put a spotlight on digital change makers and innovators who are helping their countries recover from COVID-19, create jobs and build more inclusive societies.
The five-day event also featured Regional Innovation Forum events for Africa, the Americas, and the Arab States. While Europe's event happened in September, Asia and the Pacific and the Commonwealth of Independent States will hold their events later this year.
In addition to the Global South Challenge awards during the forum, Generation Connect Video Pitch Challenge and ATU Innovation Challenge winners were announced earlier this year. This year's challenges all highlighted how digital innovation and communities can fuel COVID-19 resilience.
