Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 08 | Page 74

INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology THE SOLUTION DEMONSTRATES THE POTENTIAL OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY TO TRANSFORM HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE. IT BUILDS ON ERICSSON’S TECHNOLOGY FOR GOOD INITIATIVES AND THE COMPANY’S EXPERIENCE IN DEVELOPING SCALABLE MOBILE FINANCIAL SERVICE SOLUTIONS solutions for emergency situations. There is an urgent need for an Emergency Wallet solution, as mobile financial services, including mobile money and mobile wallets, are among the quickest, safest, and most efficient ways of extending the benefits of basic financial transactions to people who need them. David Miliband, President and CEO, International Rescue Committee says, “Digital payment mechanisms are essential to delivering effective cash transfers to address the large scale humanitarian needs caused by today’s crises. However, only 30% of countries facing severe humanitarian emergencies have digital payments infrastructure to support scaled-up response. The IRC welcomes efforts such as the Ericsson Emergency Wallet solution to close this gap.” Ericsson presented its intentions at the World Humanitarian Summit, in support of the United Nations Connecting Business Initiative. The solution demonstrates the potential of information and communication technology to transform humanitarian response. It builds on Ericsson’s Technology for Good initiatives and the company’s experience in developing scalable mobile financial service solutions. The solution design and prototyping is co-funded via the Level One Project from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Elaine Weidman Grunewald, Vice President, Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, Ericsson, says: “Ericsson has a long-standing commitment to humanitarian response, for example, our employee volunteer program, Ericsson Response, has supported 40 missions in over 30 countries during the past 15 years.” 74 INTELLIGENTCIO At a glance… Cairo based ITWORX recognised by Microsoft for Syrian school app ITWORX Education, a Cairo based company and backed by the EuroMena Fund, has been named finalist in the 2016 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards. It was recognised for providing an outstanding solution in the public sector category, based on its WinjiGo project for Syrian refugees, in the framework of addressing pressing challenges for cities and helping them do more with less. Commenting on the company’s achievement, Hatem Sallam, CEO of ITWORX Education, said: “We believe that educated citizens are a necessity if cities are to become more competitive in global markets and foster the development of new business. However, we realise that not all cities have the financial capabilities or the proper infrastructure to sustain their long term plans for educated citizens.” The company’s educational solution has broad market potential as it can be applied where children are in distress due to wars or natural disasters, which the company believes is an essential step in transforming cities around the world and helping them do more with less. ITWORX Education’s efforts were recognised among a global field of Microsoft partners demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology. Awards were presented in several categories, with winners chosen from more than 2,500 entrants from 119 countries. www.intelligentcio.com