The World Summit Awards (WSA) rewards Information and Communications Technologies projects that have a positive impact on society at the local level.
[citation needed] The world summit awards are managed by the International Center for New Media (ICNM),[4] a non-profit organization based in Salzburg, Austria.
Resolution 73 asked the Council to deliberate on the ITU's contribution to holding the Summit, with the following goals:[9] 1) establishing an overall framework identifying a joint understanding of the information society; 2) drawing a strategic plan of action and 3) identifying the role of various partners to ensure coordination in all Member States.
The United Nations General Assembly on 21 December 2001, adopted resolution 56/183,[10] endorsing the holding of a World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), with the goal(link[3]).
To this day, the World Summit Award participates in workshops and exhibitions in order to demonstrate: "the richness and diversity of e-Content globally".
[1] The overall Review of the execution of the Implementation of the Outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, was held in 2015 by the UN General Assembly, which adopted Resolution A/70/125[15] (which called for the alignment between the WSIS process and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development).
The Government of the Republic of Austria decided to entrust the global challenge of the Information Society of the UN Agenda to the International Center for New Media[17] and its honorary chairman Prof. Dr. Peter A. Bruck.
The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in conjunction with the first WSA Winners was awarded in 2003 by Romano Prodi (president of the European Commission) and Wolfang Schüssel (Federal Chancellor of Austria).
Adama Samassékou[18] emphasized his mission to ensure that information and communication technologies were to "be put into the service of all people, regardless of language, culture, gender or geographic location".
[18] In 2004, UNESCO granted patronage to the World Summit Award 2005, as it contributed to overcoming the digital gap and at the same time encouraged the creation of "locally relevant, high quality multimedia content".
The meetings have taken place in several locations, such as Bahrain, Croatia, India, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Azerbaijan, Berlin and - latest - Jakarta.
[33] WSA is a global community that seeks to combine voices, perspectives, and insights of entrepreneurs, and national and corporate experts from different fields and expertise.
Their task is to scout the national ICT markets for suitable applications, that fit the evaluation criteria of the WSA.
On the occasion of the WSIS[47]+10 review held in Paris in February 2013, a special online jury evaluated all 200 winning projects of WSA's 10-year history and selected eight all-time global champions.
It aims to bring together the WSA European Community with one objective: to connect those who use digital technology to achieve the UN SDGs.
WSA selects international experts in order to offer benefits to the local audience, and at the same time, foster intense knowledge exchange.
It organizes keynotes and interactive sessions, on topics of social entrepreneurship, particularly targeting young people and the importance of the best practices in digital innovation.