The Global South COVID-19 Digital Innovation Challenge was launched in June 2021 in collaboration with the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) as part of the ITU Innovation Challenges. The challenge sought to identify scalable, innovative, digital solutions that will enable countries, societies, communities, institutions and individuals from the Global South to deal with the cascading effects of the pandemic.
ITU received over 250 challenge applications. An expert selection committee of over 40 members was convened to review the submissions based on the evaluation criteria to determine the best innovative solutions that promote a return to normalcy after the COVID-19 crisis. The expert selection committee shortlisted 25 projects.
The organizers of these 25 projects had live pitching in front of a selection committee on 27 and 28 October during the virtual
2021 ITU Global Innovation Forum. The selection committee chose twelve winners, announced on 29 October 2021, during the "Bringing it all together - Awards ceremony and closing" session.
