Highlights
A global innovation contest
It takes many new ideas to solve the problems that societies and communities the world over face–be it food, poverty, water conservation, or healthcare and safety.
It was with this in mind that 40,000 students from around the world were involved in creating technology-led solutions, aligned with all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as an answer to some of the planet’s most pressing problems. These young students, aged between 10-16 years, were participants in a global competition organized by TCS as part of its flagship digital innovation and career readiness program, Go Innovate Together (goIT).
Tech-for-good solutions
Concepts that advanced to the final round included: an emergency alert mobile app to ensure safety and provide safe passage to young women in dangerous areas; a mobile app to help coffee farmers earn a fair rate for their coffee beans by eliminating middlemen in distribution; and a mobile app that allows students and schools to recycle used school supplies and offer them to under-resourced schools or under-privileged members in the community.
In a virtual event held on April 28, 2023, a panel judged Laura Farry, a student from Ireland, as the 2022 TCS goIT Innovator of the Year. Three students from Australia and India were given honorable mentions for their pioneering efforts in innovation.
For the 2022 Global Innovator of the Year competition, Ireland’s Laura Farry developed an app that provides services to refugees from Ukraine. Australia’s Ethan Ajeesh and Gurmaan Singh focused on alleviating food insecurity, while India’s Rounak Khatri worked on an innovation to help users and communities understand and adopt sustainable practices.
Global reach
The global innovation competition was spread across 12 months and carried out across all TCS geographies—Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas, Middle East and Africa, India, and Australia and New Zealand. Each of these regions identified more than 10,000 innovations, which were then pared down to a final list of 27. There were a total of 76 student finalists.
To prepare for the global scale of the competition, each of the 27 teams was mentored by TCS associates, who provided coaching, advice, and feedback to help students hone their digital innovations and entrepreneurial pitches.
Go Innovate Together (goIT)!
The Global Innovator of the Year award is an annual culmination of TCS’ endeavor to further innovation as a culture in young minds. The competition is an important part of goIT, which equips students with the skills and confidence to develop a mindset to pursue careers of the future.
Through design workshops and custom mentorship experiences, goIT impacts students around the world, as it inspires them to pursue careers in STEM and to think of how digital technologies can help build a more sustainable world.
The 2022 goIT Global Innovator of the Year award
