ICT award 2019 has been held in Kathmandu on Saturday, August 17. With the award, they honored Nepal’s innovative ICT entrepreneurs, innovators, enterprises, and products. Living with ICT had organized the ICT Award for the fourth consecutive year to promote ICT sector in Nepal. They announced winners in 10 different categories. Some of the ICT awards 2019 winners are Mahabir Pun, Khalti, Rakta-Daan, E-digital Nepal and etc, find more below.
Minister of Education, Science, and Technology – Giriraj Mani Pokhrael, former ICT Minister – Ganesh Sah, Member of Parliament and former Industry Minister – Mahesh Basnet and other special guests felicitated the award winners.
Winners
They announced E-digital Nepal as the winner of the ICT Startup category. Similarly, they recognized the Mediflow System and Services as the best ICT product award. Likewise, Raktadaan – a platform developed by students of Pulchowk Engineering Campus won the Rising Student Project Award. ICT Pioneer Award was awarded to Mr. Mahabir Pun, Chairperson of National Innovation Center Nepal.
Likewise, they felicitated Mr. Amit Agrawal, Co-Founder of Sparrow SMS and Khalti Digital Wallet with ICT Entrepreneur Award. They dedicate the award to IT Entrepreneurs of Nepal who are shaping the arena in Nepal and beyond, to recognize their ability and help them move ahead. Meanwhile, Diaspora ICT Award – an award to honor the person who has remained out of Nepal but has made a remarkable imprint in the international arena. The award went to Mr. Sameer Maskey who has helped identify the country as internationally competent in the global stage. Mr. Maskey is the Founder of FuseMachines who is working int the AI for making lives better.
They also awarded Lok Sewa Aayog in the category ICT Digital Governance Award. With the award, they honored and recognized the government organization that has been involved in promoting, using and enabling digital governance through their offices. Meanwhile, they also recognized Nepal Open University with the Digital Education ICT Award for the optimum utilization of ICT in the education sector. Similarly, they honored Mr. Bijay Timilsina with ICT Media Person Recognition. The Public Choice Award went to Kitab Yatra – an online bookstore in Nepal. They also awarded Posthumous Honor to Late Karmath Dangol for his contribution in the ICT sector of Nepal.
ICT Award 2019 Winners
- Startup ICT Award – E-Digital Nepal
- Product ICT Award – Mediflow System and Services
- Entrepreneur ICT Award – Amit Agrawal
- Pioneer ICT Award – Mahabir Pun
- Nepali Diaspora ICT Award – Sameer Maskey
- Digital Governance ICT Award – Lok Sewa Aayog
- Digital Education ICT Award – National Open University
- Rising Student ICT Award – Raktadaan
- Public Choice ICT Award – Kitab Yatra
- Media Person ICT Award – Bijay Timilsina
Hempal Shrestha, Jury Coordinator informed that they applied every effort to select the best candidate as the winner. Rajan Lamsal, envisioner and coordinator of ICT Award said the award was organized to respect and honor the pioneers and encourage the new entrants in the ICT sector. He informed that more than 200 applicants from across the nation had applied for the award this year in different categories. He further shared that the award can play a significant role in building and promoting ICT industry in Nepal.
During the award ceremony, Rastriya Banijya Bank announced to provide collateral-free loan up to 15 lakh rupees to the winners of ICT Startup Award, ICT Product Award, and Rising Student ICT Award. Likewise, Insurance Partner of the award, Asian Life Insurance, is providing life insurance up to 10 lakh rupees to all the award winners. Along with this, award winners have received various facilities and investment opportunities. Sushil Pokharel, MD of Sushmit International and one of the jury member said ICT Award has developed as a platform for ICT startups and innovations across Nepal to get recognition and investment opportunities. He further said that the ICT Award has added enthusiasm among people involved in the ICT sector in Nepal.
Guests
Speaking on the occasion, Giriraj Mani Pokharel, Minister of Education, Science and Technology and chief guest of the award ceremony informed that Nepal Government is in the final stage of introducing new ICT Policy in the country. He mentioned that the government cannot walk alone to connect the technological revolution seen in the world, and emphasized that partnering with the private sector is very essential to achieve the goals.
“The government has put ICT sector in utmost priority for the development and prosperity of the nation,” he shared. He congratulated the ICT Award winners and requested them to be united and work together in a planned way for the prosperity of the country.
Similarly, former Minister Ganesh Sah and Vice-Chancellor of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Sunil Babu Shrestha, in their remarks said that the ICT Award has contributed in the development of the overall IT industry in Nepal while exploring the potential in this area.
What is ICT Award?
The annual ICT Award aims to celebrate national excellence in the discipline of IT sectors in Nepal. They celebrate the annual ICT Awards conference held in the capital city of Nepal each year.
With participation from the diverse sector, the ICT Awards reflects the diversity of national interaction and need for a common recognition platform and standard of excellence that represents the wide breadth and impact of the IT sector. This ICT Awards platform serves as a reference for the interaction between the community and IT sectors to build upon strong e-society and provides both professionals and students with tangible examples of the best work in the field of IT sectors in Nepal.
