2014 UN World Summit Award (m-Inclusion & Empowerment Category) for ARKO Mobile Application (November 2014)
ARKO, Project NOAH’s mobile application which provides users with location-specific flood hazard maps is among the 40 winners of UN- based World Summit Award.
After Typhoon Haiyan devastated central Philippines in November 2013, the need for life-saving technologies has never been more vital. In a country visited by an average of 20 typhoons every year, a mobile application like ARKO which provides accessible and understandable information on flood-prone areas and identifies safe location for evacuation is a must.
ARKO is co-developed with Pointwest Technologies, a 100% Filipino-owned IT company that together with Project NOAH, believes in public-private partnership and furthering the cause of promoting science and technology towards nation building, especially in the field of disaster management.
The coveted World Summit Awards (WSA) 2014 under the m-Inclusion and Empowerment category showcases the world’s best practices in mobile innovation. The award is a first for the Philippines, as ARKO bested 450 other international mobile applications. The nominees are selected based on how information technology is applied to empower social groups. It has incurred more than 2,000 votes in its category in the WSA poll website.
WSA-mobile is a flagship initiative of the United Nations framework of the World Summit for the Information Society, which was launched in 2003. It aims to select and promote the best mobile content and innovative applications worldwide.
The WSA-mobile winners were selected by a Jury of international ICT experts. Each UN Member State is eligible to nominate one product per category for the World Summit Award. This way, any nomination results from a national pre-selection prior to the international WSA Jury. Hosted by the Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre (ADSIC), the WSA mobile Global Congress will deliver a best practice exhibition of the top digital e-Content projects worldwide.