Innovation, Impact, and Scalability
More than 350 experts from around the world were involved in an extensive multi-step process to screen, peer-review, and fact-check the 522 nominations from 90 countries that were submitted for this year’s Zero Project Awards.
The research topics focused on inclusive Employment, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT); from women entrepreneurs to company strategies, and DPOs as employment facilitators, to the Arts as job promoters; from solutions featuring low-cost prosthetics to assistive technology accelerators, and from sign-language solutions to AI-based innovations. All Awardees contribute significantly to advancing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), standing out for their innovation, impact, and scalability.
Global representation from all sectors of society
The 77 Awardees come from 45 different countries and from all six continents, with Europe (27 Awardees), Asia & Pacific (18), North America (11), Africa (10), Latin America & Caribbean (8), and Australia & Oceania (3).
The countries with the highest numbers of Awardees are the United States of America (8); India, Austria, and Germany (4 each); Canada and China (3 each). All awarded solutions are scalable, with many already operational in several countries. Notable additions to the geographical distribution are Guinea and Guyana, which are represented for the first time, and China joining the list of countries with the highest number of Awardees this year.
Strategic partnerships of the Zero Project in South Asia and Ibero-America have contributed to consistently significant numbers of cross-sectoral nominations and Awardees from those world regions.