Building and strengthening digital ecosystems - Tech for Good
Issue 73 - August 24, 2021
Happy Tuesday!
I hope your week is off to a great start! This week I am sharing a great post from GSMA on digital ecosystems. Their recent report on building and strengthening digital ecosystems is a must read if you’re interested in working in the space. I’ve also found a new funding opportunity for those of you working on open source projects and Angkor 500 has a Women in Tech event this week.
If you have anything you’d like to share with this community, please reach out and I’ll see if we can add it into next week’s newsletter.
Have a great week!
Jesse
What’s interesting this week…
Building and strengthening digital ecosystems in humanitarian contexts: Shaping an enabling environment
GSMA has been working on building digital ecosystems for a long time and this article is a fantastic high-level look at some of their findings from their most recent report. In my experience, I’ve seen a lot of ecosystem enablement happen in Cambodia, but without the underlying infrastructure or policies in place to make it sustainable. GSMA highlights some key areas to focus on if you’re working on digital ecosystem building.
Five teams of young Cambodian digital entrepreneurs selected as finalist for SmartStart Prize
After months of bootcamps, hackathons and online learning, five teams have been selected to go through to the final phase of the SmartStart Young Innovator Program – now in its fourth edition – and will have the chance to win the top prize of 10,000 USD and a fully sponsored trip to a regional technology conference.
Event: BIG IDEAS: WomenTech
ANGKOR 500 is running a Women in Tech event this week on August 28th at 1:00pm. ANGKOR 500 is bringing Silicon Valley to Cambodia through BIG IDEAS: WomenTech, a Hackathon-style event, to:
Bring visionaries and entrepreneurs together to build ideas to solve women’s challenges in Cambodia
Test your startup ideas in front of a pool of experts
Network with colleagues and discover other entrepreneurs in Cambodia
Funding: $300,000 for Your Open Source Internet Freedom Initiatives
The Internet Freedom Fund supports projects advancing Internet freedom for users in repressive environments. Funding is for creating or promoting tools that allow users – including journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and regular people – to circumvent Internet censorship, communicate safely, and access information that is blocked.
Projects can apply for up to $300,000, with most supported efforts receiving between $50,000 and $200,000, and no less than $10,000 for a year long contract .
Challenge: Problems to be Solved to Improve Global Health & Wellness
The Seeker for this Challenge is not looking for solutions to a problem, but rather problems to be solved in health & wellness related to apparel, footwear, textiles/fabrics, or materials. Submissions should present problems, that if solved, would improve the quality of life for people worldwide. Problems that focus on comfort and/or protection are preferred, but not necessary. Problems should be generally unsolved or in need of a better solution but solutions from Solvers are not required.