Huawei provided grants for research to support digital inclusion in the wake of COVID-19
[Geneva, Switzerland, December 22, 2021] Remote access to education, work, and healthcare is more important than ever before. However, there is a persistent lack of meaningful connectivity for billions of people. According to the latest ITU statistics, 37 percent of the global population still have no access to the Internet. To accelerate digital inclusion when it is most needed, Huawei has donated 15 research grants to Connect2Recover, an inspirational global initiative launched and led by ITU since August.
Yesterday, the winners of these grants were announced in Geneva, Switzerland. The winning teams consist of contributors from 44 institutions worldwide, and cover a broad range of solutions supporting digital inclusion. Their projects address the local circumstances in 32 countries of which 14 are among the poorest in the world. Concretely, the teams will create insights such as providing telemedicine for underserved rural communities, standardized mapping tools, and developing a common data space to promote the development of the data economy also in developing countries.
In total, ITU received 307 proposals from 80 countries. The great interest in the research competition underlines the importance of finding viable solutions to bring connectivity to everyone. The results of the research projects will be published as Research Briefs in the ITU publication series, Build Back Better with Broadband: Research Stories from the Frontline. A summary presentation is also planned at the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) in June 2022.
As a knowledge partner with worldwide expertise on digital infrastructure, Huawei will follow the winning submissions closely and provide support where possible. The company congratulates the winners and expresses gratitude to ITU and the academic jury consisting of five high-profile academics who evaluated the proposals and selected the winning teams.
