Kuching, Malaysia: 7th October 2023
WITSA Announces 2023 Global Innovation and Tech Excellence Award Winners: Winners demonstrated excellence in improving human lives through digital innovation and public-private partnerships
World Congress on Innovation and Technology (WCIT 2023), The World Innovation, Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) announced that 38 recipients from four different continents were selected to receive the 2023 WITSA Global Innovation and Tech Excellence Awards, a special WITSA Chairman’s Award, the WITSA MVP Award as well as two WITSA Eminent Person Awards. WITSA is the leading recognized voice of the global digital technology industry, with members from 80 countries and economies. The WITSA Awards recognize the entities that have either made or hold the highest promise to make, the most significant contributions in the use of technology to better the lives of humankind as judged from the entries received in 2023.
“The Judging committee for the 2023 Global Innovation and Tech Excellence Awards had the honor of reviewing over 130 unique and remarkable award submissions,” said WITSA Chairman Dr. Sean Seah. “I would also like to congratulate all of the winners for the superb job that they are doing in bringing the benefits of digital technology to citizens, governments, industries, and communities engaged in virtually every human endeavor; thus, contributing to WITSA’s vision as well as the dual themes of this Congress; “Fulfilling the Promise of the Digital Age: Innovation and Technology Driving Economic Prosperity, Social Inclusivity and Environmental Sustainability” and “Advancing Digital Economy for Sustainable Development,” continued Dr. Seah.
The Awards also recognized a public/private collaboration that resulted in a major cybersecurity certification and labeling program leading to consumer-friendly product markings and information about the cybersecurity of products purchased in stores and online; an agile hybrid simulator of human machine collaboration for multi-workers; a Machine Learning business offering insights into residential and commercial building portfolios on the journey to net zero; an award-winning company accelerating green hydrogen adoption for deep decarbonization in hard-to-abate sectors; an innovative AI-enabled predictive software solution used in the early diagnosis and prevention of colorectal and bronchopulmonary cancer; an innovative learning management system based on the latest AI and machine learning techniques empowering learners by adapting the content to their learning style and current states; a flexible next-generation online application that brings together everything a very small business or a freelancer needs in a single system; and an intelligent predictive and analysis system for supply chain resilience; an advanced technology solution provider in the emerging property-technology (PropTech) space.
Governments were also recognized for a one-stop data platform for skills, education, employment and entrepreneurship that supports its citizens by providing effective data-driven policy planning; a smart city project that improves the quality of life of its residents and urban governance through the development of Smart 5G Poles and other innovative applications related to Internet of Things; a program delivering a digital service to support clean air zone management; an e-government program that improves population health, quality of life and productivity; an e-learning platform for education, skills and professional development that accelerates the inclusive digitization of public services and improves access for millions of people in a major developing economy; and an interoperability information system that provides safety, privacy, efficiency, effectiveness and economies of scale in the design and implementation of data exchange between public sector bodies to provide digital services to citizens and businesses.
The Awards also recognized some of the most influential women leaders in technology who have demonstrated considerable experience in leading innovation and becoming leaders and role models in the tech industry, as well as government authorities and corporations that have partnered to successfully procure and implement public information infrastructure and services using the technology, solutions, innovation, and expertise of the private sector.
“The nominations submitted to this year’s awards program spanned WITSA’s global membership,” stated WITSA’s CEO, Dato’ Dan E. Khoo. “We are delighted that we were able to recognize some of the very best tech solutions from governments, institutions, individuals, and industry,” continued Dato’ Khoo.
The WITSA Global Innovation and Tech Excellence Awards is one of WITSA’s catalytic global platforms that began in the year 2000 at the World Congress on IT in Taipei. As the leading recognized international voice of the global tech industry, WITSA has utilized its unprecedented reach into the digital industries of 80 member countries and economies in order to honor the most deserving candidates from around the world.
The following are the winners of the 2023 WITSA Global Innovation and Tech Excellence Award Winners:
- 2023 Chairman’s Award: Consumer Technology Association (CTA) & National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
2. 2023 Digital Opportunity/Inclusion Award (Private Sector/NGO): Institute for Information Industry: “An agile hybrid simulator of human-machine collaboration for multi-workers”
3. 2023 Digital Opportunity/Inclusion Award (Public Sector): Aspire to Innovate – a2i: National Intelligence for Skills, Education, Employment & Entrepreneurship – NISE
4. 2023 Smart Cities Award (Private Sector/NGO): Skenarios Real Estate by Skenario Labs
5. 2023 Smart Cities Award (Public Sector): Information Management Center, New Taipei City Government: Building 5G Smart Poles in New Taipei Smart City
6. 2023 Sustainable Growth Award/Circular Economy Award (Private Sector/NGO): SunGreenH2
7. 2023 Sustainable Growth Award/Circular Economy Award (Public Sector):Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU): Improving the UK’s Air Quality – Delivering a Digital Service to Support Clean Air Zone Management
8. 2023 Innovative E-Health Solutions Award (Private Sector/NGO): Frontier Management Consulting SRL: PROMED Project
9. 2023 Innovative E-Health Solutions Award (Public Sector): IDIKA SA: e-Government Center for Social Security Services
10. 2023 Public/Private Partnership Award: Taichung City Economic Development Bureau in Taiwan: Taichung Shopping Festival Platform – BT Group: Virtual Wards Programme
11. 2023 E-Education & Learning Award (Private Sector/NGO): SMACRS: Lumière (smertege)
12. 2023 E-Education & Learning Award (Public Sector) – Aspire to Innovate a2i: MuktoPaath – Ensuring e-Learning for All – HRD Corp
13. 2023 Emerging Digital Solutions Award: SOFTONE Group: Prosvasis GO Web Application
14. 2023 AI Excellence Award (Private Sector/NGO) – Institute for Information Industry: Intelligent Predictive and Analysis System (IPAS) for Supply Chain Resilience for EMS – SIMPPLE: SIMPPLE AI
15. Best Place to Work Award (Private Sector/NGO) Epsilon Net: Transforming the Workplace into a Tech Haven
16. Digital Transformation of the Year (Private Sector/NGO) Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad: Virtual Credit Card (VCC)
17. Digital Transformation of the Year (Public Sector) The General Secretariat for Information Systems & Digital Governance (Ministry of Digital Governance): The Interoperability Center (KED)
18. Women in Tech Award (Private Sector/NGO) – Vasiliki Anagnostou, General Manager and Deputy CEO of Epsilon Net Group: Empowering Women in the Tech Industry with a Woman-Led Leadership – Catherine Lian, Managing Director – IBM Malaysia
19. Women in Tech Award (Public Sector) Women and e-Commerce (WE)
20. WITSA MVP Award, Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC)
WITSA bestowed its highest award, the Eminent Person Award to Dr. Lisa Su, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of Advanced Micro Devices for her unparalleled achievements, and The Right Honorable Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari Bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg, Premier of Sarawak, for transforming Sarawak into a Digital Economy by leveraging on technology and Innovation.
The 2023 WITSA Awards received a large number of highly qualified nominees, amassed through WITSA’s network of digital tech industry associations across the globe. WITSA therefore decided to also recognize a number of noteworthy Runners-up and Merit recipients. While not being selected as winners of one of the award categories, these nominees nevertheless displayed first-rate use and innovation in tech.
At the 2023 WITSA Global Innovation and Tech Excellence Awards, 4 Runner-ups and 8 Merit recipients were recognized. All winners of the 2023 WITSA Awards are profiled in detail below:
WITSA EMINENT PERSON AWARD
Dr. Lisa Su
The Right Honorable Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari Bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg
In 2010, WITSA established its highest decoration called the WITSA Eminent Person Award to honor and recognize those individuals who have made a significant and profound positive difference in the lives of others.
These deserving individuals who have come from within the tech industry include the co-fathers of the Internet Dr. Vinton Cerf and Dr. Bob Kahn, the Fathers of Wi-Fi Dr. John O’Sullivan and Dr. Terence Percival as well as Dr. Miguel Angelo Laporta Nicolelis, best known for his pioneering work surrounding brain-machine interface technology.
In 2023, WITSA had the distinct pleasure of adding two special inductees to WITSA’s honor roll of Eminent Persons.
This year’s WITSA Eminent Person from the tech industry is Dr. Lisa Su, President, CEO, and Chair of Advanced Micro Devices. Dr. Vint Cerf personally nominated Dr. Su for her unparalleled achievements as CEO of AMD, including one of the greatest recent turnarounds in the tech sector as well as her highly regarded work developing silicon-on-insulator semiconductor manufacturing technologies and more efficient semiconductor chips that are making a mark in the race for AI dominance.
And from the public sector leadership, which had given WITSA illustrious recipients like WITSA’s first Eminent Person Dr. Nelson Mandela, and subsequent ones like the Rt. Honorable Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Rt. Honorable Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, comes a luminary whose strategic vision has inspired the development of critical sectors and innovations for the betterment of his people’s future. The Right Honorable Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari Bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg, Premier of Sarawak, is the recipient of the 2023 WITSA Eminent Person Award from the public sector.
Under his mantle as Premier, Sarawak aspires to be a developed and high-income state by 2030. This entails doubling the size of Sarawak’s economy from RM136 billion in 2019 to RM282 billion in 2030 with a targeted annual growth of between six to eight percent as outlined in Sarawak’s Post COVID-19 Development Strategy 2030.
When he took over as Premier of Sarawak in 2017, he embarked on progressing Sarawak from depending on a traditional commodity-based economy to thriving with a Digital Economy leveraging on technology and innovation. Committed to providing internet connectivity to every citizen of Sarawak building digital talent and encouraging the use of e-commerce and fintech to spur the economy, he is the father of Sarawak’s economic digitalization.
WITSA MVP Award
Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC)
The WITSA Most Valuable Partner (MVP) Award recognizes the leadership and progress made by a WITSA partner in advancing the ideals embodied by the spirit of the WCIT in fulfilling the promise of the digital age. The winner, the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) has made tremendous strides in creating opportunities for the communities it serves, including tech entrepreneurs, digital business investors and the citizens of Sarawak, with the smart adoption and utilization of digital infrastructure and technology.
THE CHAIRMAN’S AWARD
Consumer Technology Association (CTA) & National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
This award was given to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) for hosting a multi-year multi-stage public-private process on IoT cybersecurity and to the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) for its leadership in the private sector side of the NIST IoT cybersecurity public-private process
For years, hackers have compromised consumer-connected devices (consumer Internet of Things devices, or consumer IoT) in order to turn them into “bots”. A bot is a connected device that obeys commands from a malicious actor. A large network of bots (a “botnet”) can be commanded to send malicious floods of traffic at a website, rendering the website unable to handle normal traffic and therefore unavailable; such an attack is a distributed denial of service (DDoS).
Following a major 2016 attack, and pursuant to executive orders from the Trump and Biden Administrations, NIST held a series of public-private stakeholder efforts over a period of six years. The initial output of this collaboration with industry was a “baseline” for IoT cybersecurity—a minimum set of standards that would if implemented by manufacturers, prevent or limit future such attacks. At the same time, the Consumer Technology Association (“CTA”) began a parallel effort for similar reasons. The trade association convened 19 leading trade associations and technical alliances to develop a minimum baseline in parallel with the NIST effort. The CTA-led effort assembled technical experts from the many organizations convened by these associations and alliances. This “Convene the Conveners” effort was published in 2019 as the C2 Consensus and referenced by NIST and others in subsequent works.
However, CTA also saw the value of NIST’s public-private partnership effort on this topic. Besides contributing the C2 Consensus document to the NIST effort, CTA provided detailed technical input in every one of NIST’s public-private partnership stages from 2017 to 2023. CTA made an extensive contribution to the NIST Consumer IoT Label Pilot Program in 2022. And CTA ultimately merged the overall effort of the C2 Consensus into the NIST public/private stakeholder effort, making one public-private effort rather than two competing programs
The result of this cooperative effort is the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, which was announced July 18th, 2023, by the White House, NIST and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and major industry partners including the Consumer Technology Association. The voluntary program is expected to lead to consumer-friendly product markings and information about the cybersecurity of the products they purchase in stores and online.
CTA’s landing page on cyber labeling, including links to CTA work and to NIST work: Click Here
The announcement by the White House on the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark: Click Here
For more information, see: Award Nomination
DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY/INCLUSION AWARD (PRIVATE SECTOR/NGO)
Institute for Information Industry for “an agile hybrid simulator of human-machine collaboration for multi-workers”
By pioneering the combination of using electromyographic (EMG) signals with human body movement image recognition, III has developed a non-contact real-time multi-person work efficiency system. This overcomes the limitations of traditional EMG detection, which requires attaching sensors to the individuals being monitored and is both costly and impractical for widespread use. III’s system enables the storage of data related to safety issues in the Taiwanese production environment and utilizes scientific analysis to assess the production efficiency of various workstation lines. This not only improves the safety of production personnel but also serves as a management reference. Additionally, the system can be adapted into different language versions, expanding its application worldwide. Some benefits include:
·Digital analysis of human performance and efficiency, expanding the safety of personnel in the production environment: The system enables the storage of data related to safety issues in the Taiwanese production environment and utilizes scientific analysis to assess the production efficiency of various workstation lines. This not only improves the safety of production personnel but also serves as a management reference.
· Application of human factors engineering analysis and Human-Centric human-machine collaborative technology.
· Providing Implementation of a 3D digital virtual factory to simulate human-machine hybrid production processes
· Dynamic Production Line Digital Twin Optimization System
· Innovative AI model computation and image recognition technology for operating process assessment
Collaboration Between Industry and Government to Build Taiwan Occupational Safety Data Analysis Center
DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY/INCLUSION AWARD (PUBLIC SECTOR)
Aspire to Innovate – a2i for their one-stop data platform – National Intelligence for Skills, Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship (NISE)
In Bangladesh, the mismatch between the demand and supply of relevant skills is considered to be the key reason behind unemployment and inefficiencies in the labor market. Some pressing issues are putting stumbling blocks in the country’s path to becoming a developed country by 2041 (Smart Bangladesh).
The Aspire to Innovate (a2i) Programme of the Cabinet Division and ICT Division supported by UNDP Bangladesh have developed a one-stop data platform – National Intelligence for Skills, Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship (NISE) – to support all stakeholders to ensure effective data-driven policy planning. It is actually a matchmaking platform that aims to ensure a balance between the supply side and demand for skills, education, employment, and entrepreneurship. Supply-side stakeholders are 32 government departments under 23 relevant ministries as well as 13000 skills service providers. For onboarding demand side stakeholders NISE has established partnerships with most of the existing job platforms including the Largest Job Portal in Bangladesh which is BDjobs. NISE aims to act as a connecting bridge to bring these stakeholders together under one umbrella so that they can address each other’s needs and subsequently make data-driven decisions to stimulate industrial growth that will pave the way for economic prosperity.
The youth participants in various programs by skills service providers- including job seekers, skills seekers, migrants, apprentices, and entrepreneurs are automatically included in a central youth database in NISE who can then get easy access to some innovative features of this platform such as career counseling and guidance, job forecast, apprenticeship opportunities, business and migration suggestions, entrepreneurship guiding pathways etc.
SMART CITIES AWARD (PRIVATE SECTOR/NGO)
Skenarios Real Estate by Skenario Labs
Skenario Labs is a Machine Learning business, offering insights into residential and commercial building portfolios on the journey to net zero. Their advanced analysis engine creates a virtual representation of buildings, assessing energy usage, carbon intensity, and value. They empower clients to make informed decisions for sustainable and optimized portfolios through data-driven solutions.
Skenariolabs builds individual building models for every single building across a city. They take into account local building archetypes (what are they made of? How are they built?), as well as localized weather, costs, energy grid, and demographics in order to provide insights on how to best decarbonize whole portfolios. They collaborated with Arup to develop a virtual representation of several thousand properties across three major UK cities. This model included multiple building types and provided a solid baseline for further iteration and scenario analysis. We ran several scenarios focusing on three intervention types:
1) A deep retrofit requiring a significant change to the buildings.
2) A light retrofit that would not require massive alteration.
3) A do-minimum to investigate a baseline.
By utilizing Skenarios Real Estate and combining our platform and modeling with Arup’s expertise they were able to deliver high-quality analysis for their clients and have since expanded collaboration to additional projects with central and local Governments around the UK. Skenarios Real Estate allows property data to be collected, collated, and analyzed quickly. It can also provide a set of derived assumptions where data was not available and which can then be updated or replaced.
SMART CITIES AWARD (PUBLIC SECTOR)
Information Management Center, New Taipei City Government: for Building 5G Smart Poles in New Taipei Smart City
The Smart Poles can expand the 5G internet coverage rate within the area with the hardware device integrated inside. New Taipei City plans to further improve the quality of life of its residents and the overall urban governance of New Taipei City through the development of Smart Poles and other innovative applications related to the Internet of Things to make New Taipei City a smart city, where people can live and work in peace and convenient.
Equipping with specific-purpose modules for data collection, such as environmental status detection, pedestrian and traffic flow, etc., the key data will be transmitted to the control center using efficient network communication technology for analyzing processes to help with decision-making on policy or regulation. At the current stage, the Smart Pole is equipped with road lights, traffic signal signs, surveillance cameras, network gateways, digital signage, environmental quality detectors, advertisement signs, and other integrated solutions.
APPLICATIONS
· Real-time street light system management:
· Image monitoring, identification, and data analysis:
· Environmental detection and disaster prevention: it can detect sunlight, air quality, noise meter, water level, etc
· 5G internet communication applications: increase the network density
· Information transmission and exchange: digital billboards can provide real-time information presentation
· Renewable energy module: power supply can be extracted from natural resources, such as solar power, wind power, etc.
With all-rounded construction and application, the Smart Poles become the fundamental infrastructure for the development of smart cities.
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH / CIRCULAR ECONOMY (PRIVATE SECTOR/NGO)
SunGreenH2
SunGreenH2 is an award-winning company accelerating green hydrogen adoption for deep decarbonization in hard-to-abate sectors. We are supercharging electrolyzers with nanotechnology so orders more magnitude of hydrogen can cleanly be made from water. They manufacture core components for all major types of electrolyzer cells, stacks, and systems, enabling our customers to produce affordable green hydrogen. Alkaline, PEM, and AEM electrolyzers made with our electrodes and components double (2x) hydrogen production using 30x lower precious metals and 10% lower energy. They have recently been awarded grant funding from Shell and the Energy Market Authority and are piloting our technology with leading hydrogen end-users like Naturgy Shell and Electrolyser. Hydrogen will have a role to play in the hard-to-abate industrial and heavy vehicles sectors. SunGreenH2 intends to supply GW-scale electrolyzers in the next 3-5 years.
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH / CIRCULAR ECONOMY (PUBLIC SECTOR
Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) for Improving the UK’s Air Quality – Delivering a Digital Service to Support Clean Air Zone Management
The GOV.UK ‘Drive in a Clean Air Zone’ service has: Enabled citizens and businesses to understand whether they would be charged for driving in a CAZ ahead of CAZ’s being launched and, if they were, identifying proactive actions they could take to avoid this. Enabled citizens to easily pay any charges that are due, either before or after they travel into a CAZ. Enabled fleet operators of all sizes to create a ‘Business Account’ that enables them to manage and pay CAZ charges more efficiently. Encouraged significant public uptake by adopting a user-centered delivery approach based on face-to-face research, iterative prototyping, and development to ensure that user needs were met as efficiently as possible. This also catered to users with assisted digital needs, by providing the ability to pay by telephone, etc. Allowed JAQU/DVLA to benefit from adopting a cloud-first and ‘buy don’t build’ technical strategy. Delivery was accelerated, de-risked, and cost effective (due to the cloud pay-as-you-go model). Currently, the service reliably and comfortably processes over 30k transactions per day and is designed to scale to 10x this figure as further LAs launch CAZs. Allowed citizens and all delivery partners to benefit from adopting an agile delivery approach using Continuous Integration tools and technologies –continual service improvements can be taken from concept to live easily, ensuring that user feedback and new requirements can be actioned quickly. Allowed JAQU/DVLA to secure a wealth of operational data that they can use to evaluate, inform, and optimize the implementation of clean air policy, now and in the future.
Working together, Informed Solutions and JAQU continue to successfully support, maintain, and continually improve the CAZ Service. The first Clean Air Zones were launched in 2021 and the solution is playing a vital role in improving the quality of the air we breathe. Several services are already live, including the Vehicle Compliance Checker – a national GOV.UK service used by motorists to determine if they will be charged for driving into a CAZ. 61 Local Authorities are involved in the program, with Bath and Birmingham having already launched CAZ schemes, with a further 7 cities following their example. This scalable infrastructure and service has the potential to be rolled out internationally for smart cities and sustainable environmental initiatives.
For more information: Tech Excellence Award Winners
