The Spanish Red Cross has a special interest in technological innovation for humanitarian purposes. For this reason, the Humanitarian Technology Awards have been held since 2006, where ideas or initiatives with social innovation purposes are valued.
As in previous editions, these awards consist of 3 categories: IMPACT (where the capacity for transformation to benefit the lives of the people for whom the solution is intended is rewarded), IMPULSE (in which the potential for scalability within the target public of the solution and its extension to other areas and groups is valued) and RED CROSS (a category especially designed for work presented by teams of volunteers and Red Cross professionals).
An expert jury chooses the winners, whose prize consists of a financial award of €4,000 and several working sessions with a committee of experts from the Spanish Red Cross that will support the development of the initiative.
On Wednesday 15 February, the winners of the 7th Humanitarian Technology Awards were announced. This year’s technological initiatives were the following:
– Llum: a mobile application that allows homeless people to access local services and resources free of charge thanks to the collaboration of individuals and neighbourhood businesses.
– Visualfy: an application specially designed for people with hearing loss or deaf people, based on Artificial Intelligence that recognises sounds in the environment and sends visual and vibration signals to the people who use it.
– Solferino Academy of the International Federation of the Red Cross for its work in disseminating the awards internationally and to Uganda Red Cross for the initiative to improve the training, employability and mental health of children and young people in their country thanks to projects such as About Humble Youth Foundation, Touchless Counselling and Volunteer Tracer App.
Their awards will be presented during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the end of February.
