Winner and Finalists Announced for Peace, Justice & Inclusion Startup Competition
Held by Extreme Tech Challenge with in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea and the UN Development Programme.
During the UN Summit of the Future Action Days Programme held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, the Government of the Republic of Korea and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced the Finalists and Winner of their Peace, Justice & Inclusive Society Startup Competition, powered by Extreme Tech Challenge.
Extreme Tech Challenge is the world’s largest startup ecosystem showcasing technologies aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This competition focused on worldwide innovations addressing SDG 16 which aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Reflecting the fact that the Competition is one of the important outcomes of the 3rd Summit for Democracy hosted by the Republic of Korea, Mr. Kweon Ki-hwan, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea, said “Building on the momentum of the 3rd Summit for Democracy, this competition brought together startups and innovators from around the world with ideas to harness technology for a more peaceful, just, and inclusive society, as encapsulated in SDG 16.”
Robert Opp, Chief Digital Officer, UNDP said, “At UNDP, we are seeing first-hand how digital technologies can be an important part in bridging gaps in access to justice, in promoting inclusive societies and in building accountable institutions. The potential impact of the solutions this competition brought to the fore shows us that the responsible use of technology can be a powerful force for peaceful and just societies.”
Highlighting the significance of this collaboration, Young Sohn, Co-Founder of Extreme Tech Challenge, Founding Managing Partner of Walden Catalyst Ventures, Chairman of Semiconductor Advisory Board at Samsung Electronics, and Chairman of HARMAN Board of Directors, said, “These startup finalists are showing us that harnessing advanced chip and AI technologies to reduce power with greater sustainability to achieve peace, justice and inclusivity in the most under-served populations worldwide is real and producing results in the field right now.”
The six finalists which emerged from the competition covered an impressive span of solutions from digital IDs to elections validation to leveling-up education opportunities for the remotest and most under-resourced populations. Please dive more deeply into the other FIVE Finalists listed below.
The WINNER of the Korea/UNDP/XTC Peace, Justice & Inclusive Society Startup Competition is AIDONIC which has developed an AI / Blockchain enabled payment aggregation platform for humanitarian and development aid agencies to secure, expedite and audit both donation and delivery of aid to populations most in need whether by cash transfer or digital vouchers.
AIDONIC has been successfully deployed by UNICEF in Latin America, aid agencies in Sudan and Lebanon, and also for direct humanitarian cash assistance with onboarding to local institutions to accelerate sustainable financial inclusion.
It was a very tight final evaluation by our judges to choose among an array of impressive technical innovations for a more just and inclusive society. Learn more about AIDONIC here and please also engage with the other 5 Finalists – listed below in alphabetical order:
Alatpres Technologies of Kenya 🇰🇪
A B2B2C mobile solution that offers an accessible, easy to use and reliable emergency notification and incident management platform for businesses and public safety providers with data analytics for insights on safety management, crime and emergency prediction and mapping.
Digizen of Finland 🇫🇮
A leader in the trend to leapfrog the 20th Century and give all citizens and safe, secure, digital identity which can enable reliable and undisputed service delivery to remote and under-served populations, with first implementation digitizing official citizen IDs in Papua New Guinea and ready to be adapted to laws and regulations in other countries.
Indexa Law of Indonesia 🇮🇩
A platform that enables the efficient digital integration, analysis and visualization of legal and regulatory information for professionals and civic society in jurisdictions where different courts, ministries and law libraries remain isolated and hard to access.
SimpleProof of USA 🇺🇸
A durable and secure blockchain timestamping and document certification and safekeeping service infrastructure for many government systems, but especially focused on elections. It was deployed by the Government of Guatemala in their most recent elections and used effectively to combat false claims of fraud and abuse.
TOMi.Digital of Colombia 🇨🇴
A hardware / software suite that allows advanced curriculum and AI-enhanced student assessment to be deployed in the remotest locations via a football-sized storage, processing, Tx/Rx unit that can operate completely off-the-grid with battery or renewable energy sources also supplied by TOMi.
About Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC)
Founded by legendary Silicon Valley venture capitalists Young Sohn and Bill Tai, XTC is the world’s largest platform to accelerate startups addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Through its startup competitions, innovation programming and panel discussions at leading tech conferences, thought leadership and networking events, XTC provides exceptional founders the potential for global visibility, venture investment, corporate collaborations, and world-class mentorship. Since 2015, XTC finalists have raised $4.4B+ in investment capital.