The contest ‘New Enlightener 2020’ – a national selection to the world contest of digital content solutions World Summit Awards 2020 (WSA) – starts today. Both, Lithuanian start-ups and experienced business companies – creators of mobile applications, electronic services, digital platforms, and games – are invited to participate in the contest. The winners of the national contest will become the candidates of the global contest World Summit Awards 2020 and will compete with digital products from all over the world. Participants may register for participation in the national selection contest at www.naujasisknygnesys.lt until 19 July 2020.

According to Ieva Žilionienė, the National Expert of the World Summit Awards and the Member of the Grand Jury, this contest is a great opportunity for participants to test their abilities and to show the value and benefit of their solution not only in the local, but also in the global context. “We are proud of the fact that in the last year even two solutions created by the Lithuanian start-ups were ranked among top 40 digital innovations recognised as the best in the world, i.e.: ChestEye CAD (‘Oxipit’) which was recognised as the best in the health and well-being category and BitDegree (‘BitDegree’) which was recognised as the best in the learning and education category, and was additionally recognised as the best solution in its category – the World Digital Champion. The entry of our young creators was also delightful – the solution Ligence created by the Lithuanians became the ultimate winner of the European Youth Award. Such success inspires to expect active participation of the Lithuanian creators in the national selection this year and to discover the best digital innovations worth the global recognition”, said I. Žilionienė.

What may the winners of the national contest expect?

• Representation of Lithuania in the world contest. Winners of the Lithuanian selection process – one solution in each category ‒ will become ‘the new enlighteners’ of Lithuania and will represent Lithuania in the world contest WSA 2020.
• One of the start-ups will receive a special award – a bonus of EUR 3,000 will be awarded for the most innovative, original and socially significant solution.
• Valuable prizes. The winners of the national selection will be awarded valuable prizes established by friends and partners of the contest.
• In case of success – participation in the Global Congress. Participants of the world contest WSA 2020 will compete in the categories of their solutions and the winners will participate in the Global Congress of the World Summit Awards where they will introduce their solutions to the international business and academic community, they will participate in trainings and meetings with globally recognised innovators and will be awarded during the official award ceremony of the winners.
• Additional focus on the young innovators. The teams submitting their solutions to the contest “New Enlightener” the majority of members whereof are under 30 also participate in the selection of World Summit Awards initiative “Youth Innovation for Europe”. A team of young innovators selected by the Lithuanian national commission will compete for the title of the best and for the invitation to the Young European Innovators festival which will take place in Graz, Austria on November 30 – December 3, 2020.

Lithuanian creators will compete in the national contest in the following categories:

• Government and citizen involvement
• Health and well-being
• Learning and education
• Environment and green energy
• Culture and tourism
• Smart settlements and urbanisation
• Business and commerce
• Inclusion and empowerment.

The contest ‘New Enlightener 2020’ is organised by the Information Society Development Committee (IVPK, www.ivpk.lt) together with the Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania (RRT, www.rrt.lt). The initiative of the contest is supported by the largest Lithuanian communications operators Bitė Lietuva UAB, Tele2 UAB and Telia Lietuva AB, Verslo Žinios, portal 15min, ChangeMakers‘ON.

World Summit Awards is a global initiative the aim of which is to select and promote the world’s best digital content innovations contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations.

For more information on the contest ‘New Enlightener’, go to www.naujasisknygnesys.lt.

For more information on the contest World Summit Awards, go to https://www.worldsummitawards.org/.