40 outstanding app developer teams from around the world gathered in Abu Dhabi this week for the World Summit Awards – Mobile. The World Summit Awards (WSA) were initiated in 2003 for the first United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), in collaboration with UNESCO. It has been part of the fulfilment of the Geneva Action Plan (2003) and the Tunis Agenda (2005) as approved by the United Nations.
The award winning mobile solutions, picked by an international jury, were grouped in eight categories ranging from m-health to m-business (see Table 1). There were also keynotes on mobile evolution, panels on mobile education, and workshops on mobile innovation.
Table 1: Eight Categories of Winners in the World Summit Awards for Mobile, 2013
| Category | Winners |
| m-Business & Commerce | Streetspotr, Germany Keapo, Paraguayi Butterfly, China Mobicash, Bahrain |
| m-Environment & Health | Positive Technology, Italy Prognosis : Your Diagnosis, Sri Lanka Social Diabetes, Spain Hormoncheck, Norway Life with Cancer, Denmark |
| m-Entertainment & Lifestyle | Oz Book, Lithuania DerManDar, Lebanon QTom TV, Germany |
| m-Government & Participation | i-Police, Nigeria Roadroid, Sweden Towngas, China Digital Library, Singapore MyFunCity, Brazil |
| m-Inclusion & Empowerment | Blanco y Negro, Ecuador AlzNav, Portugal MagicReader, Japan WheelMap, Germany Hand Talk, Brazil |
| m-Media & News | News360, Russian Federation/ USAScoopshot, Finland TrafficMate, Sri Lanka Bambuser, Sweden Maestro Digital Publishing Suite, China |
| m-Tourism & Culture | map2app, Italy Tripwolf, Austria TaxiPal, Estonia Harpoen, Indonesia Dérive App, Uganda |
| m-Learning & Education | Back in Time, Portugal WildChords, Finland The Math Mage, Jordan KnowledgePulse, Austria Project Noah, Canada |
“With more than 6 billion mobile connections worldwide, content and value added applications are central to the modern functioning of the economy and the transformation to a knowledge society,” according to Prof. Peter Bruck, WSA chairman. The World Summit Award focuses on mobile excellence as well as narrowing of digital divides in emerging economies.
The WSA event was organised by the InternationalCenter for New Media (ICNM) in Salzburg, Austria, with a global network of partners in 168 UN member states. The 2013 edition of the awards was hosted by Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre (ADSIC).
“Mobile content plays a critical role in social progress and in building a knowledge-based economy,” said Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori, ADSIC Director General.
Nominations for the awards were received from over 100 UN member states on the basis of content depth and creativity. In the next columns, we will explore the role of startups in furthering mobile innovation for business and social gain.
[Follow YourStory.in’s research director Madanmohan Rao]
