http://www.wsis-award.org/

The World Summit Award (WSA) is a global initiative launched on occasion of he United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2003/05. WSA is an invitation project and a global hub to help bridge the digital divide by selecting and promoting creative contents and innovative applications. This is done through national contests and a global contest, held every two years, as well as numerous content-focused national and international events – the WSA Road Show. WSA reaches 168 countries to stimulate entrepreneurship and creativity in the e-Content industries, empowers entrepreneurs worldwide and supports the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Key development problems addressed by WSA-net with the following objectives:

• Make e-content issues part of ICT4D agenda: The development of I&C infrastructures and technologies alone does not fulfill the promise of a knowledge based information society. Good quality contents and innovative applications are required to build an inclusive, people-centered and development-oriented Information Society. Education and culture, health care and science, delivery of public administration services and electronic forms of participation, business and commerce depend all in the last instance on two things, accessible and functioning technological platforms and usercentered e-contents and applications. The FPI in e-Content and Creativity (WSA-net) makes the second part a priority issue and addresses where an "intellectual vacuum" and a paucity of actions persist.
• Facilitate Content Industry Economic Development: The I&C technologies are supplied by global companies and offered in highly concentrated markets. Local and diverse economic development will take place mainly in the e-content industries and the application markets. The FPI in e-Content and Creativity (WSA-net) supports networking for e-content industry development and all forms and especially south-south cooperation.
• Bridge Digital Divide in e-Content: The ICT poor are most likely also to be information and content poor as their capacity to produce contents is limited from the outset and their ability to pay restricts them in their choices. The FPI in e-Content and Creativity (WSA-net) makes visible the Digital Divide in Content and the tendency to supply information trash to the information poor.
• Narrow Content Gap: A global mechanism is needed to select and evaluate the best of contents in order to provide essential information to people and markets, to consumers and decision makers on what is already available in terms of diversity, on what is best practice in terms of richness of media and on what is the value add for users in terms of creating a global knowledge society. The FPI in e-Content and Creativity (WSAnet) is dedicated to demonstrate and showcase the best practice in e-content and creation in the context of the United Nations efforts of ICT4D and in cooperation with the relevant UN organizations to reach the Millennium Development Goals

Objectives

In addressing the above mentioned development problems and strategic objectives and in order to strengthen the impact and to sustain an inclusive global platform and multistakeholder activity in the area of selection and promotion of best practice in econtent and to maintain it as a result of the WSIS process the following operative objectives need to be achieved:

• Create awareness through a thematic forum on e-content and innovative applications within the UN follow up process;
• Provide a millennium development oriented network for the non-profit efforts in the selection and promotion of best practice to emphasize the importance of good quality contents and innovative applications to achieve core development goals, including access to knowledge and reduction of information poverty with specific attention to education and culture, health and science, entrepreneurship and business, governance and public administration;
• Invite member states, the business community and civil society organizations in an forward-looking multi-stakeholder partnership on e-content to give recognition to creative producers, innovative e-content designers and future oriented applications developers through global awards for best practice;
• Seek cooperation with all relevant UN organizations and agencies, private sector sponsors active in the area of e-content to optimize impact and sustain activity till the official WSIS review in 2015

Deliverables

The FPI in e-Content and Creativity (WSA-net) will deliver the following output within the timeframe of a biannual cycle of activities:

1. Organise and execute a global contest for best practice products in e-content and creativity starting in 2007 and going till 2015 -> 40 Global Winners (winning products and recognized producers/creatives) and 6 x 24 regional Best (3 in each category for each of the 6 e-content world regions)
2. Cooperation with, support of and where necessary initiation of national selections of best practice in as many UN member states as possible (2003 - 136 countries; 2005 - 168 countries) -> 8 national Winners in developed and developing countries
3. Recognition and promotion of the products/applications and producers/developers through a biannual WSA Gala, WSA print and electronic publications
4. Initiate and support WSA Global e-Content Summits as high-level international events bringing together high-ranking keynote speakers (minister and CEO level), leading ICT experts and worlds best e-Content producers to share best practices in e-Content industry and exchange knowledge, ideas and concrete experiences for future ICT developments in a region, thus providing platforms for creation of business opportunities, fostering and supporting the entrepreneurship in the countries concerned.
5. Facilitate and support WSA Road Show events to share and demonstrate best practices in e-Content and e-Creativity, to discuss and exchange knowledge and ideas through World Best Content Exhibition (Top 40 of the WSA 2005), demonstrations and workshops held by WSA winners and WSA Grand Jury members from the
   country and the world region.
6. Catalyze and supervise WSA Content Industry Development Offices (CIDOs) which implement measures relating to the content industry development regarding to different sectors of the e-content industries (especially pertaining to education, healthcare, entrepreneurship and issues of governance) with specific attention to private sector development, facilitation of know how exchange and local content development.

The deliverables pertain to the following specific areas of ICT applications and e-contents:

1. e-Learning
   Serving the needs of learners to acquire knowledge and skills for a complex and globalizing world; transforming schools, universities and other educational institutions through interactive, personalized and distributed learning resources; creating active elearning communities and target models and solutions for corporate training, supporting first steps in multimedia.
2. e-Culture
   Preserving and presenting cultural heritage in line with the challenges of the future; demonstrating valuable cultural assets clearly and informatively using state-of-the-art technology.
3. e-Science
   Fostering global collaboration in key areas of science, and the next generation of infrastructure that will enable it; providing measures to promote and demonstrate scientific processes and make them accessible to citizens; scientific projects articulated through new media.
4. e-Government
   Empowering citizens and serving public services clients; fostering quality and efficiency of information exchange and communication services in governmental and public administrative processes; strengthening participation of citizens in information society decision making.
5. e-Health
   Developing of the consumer-centered model of healthcare where stakeholders collaborate, utilizing ICT, including internet technologies to manage health issues the health care system.
6. e-Business
   Support and optimization of business processes; creation of new business models in ecommerce, business to business, internet security and other areas; supporting SME's on the marketplace.
7. e-Entertainment
   Supplying digitized entertainment products and services; entertaining the user in this world's variety of languages and its cultural diversity; supporting movement from one-way to two-way, interactive entertainment and the synergy between analog and digital platforms.
8. Special Category: e-Inclusion
   All measures supporting IT integration of least developed countries into the Information Society. Reducing the "digital divide" between technology-empowered and technology-excluded communities and groups - such as rural areas and women. Bridging society through multimedia.