Nominations for DigitalAgenda Impact Awards 2020 open 15 October
Tags: Awards, Tech For Good, Social Innovation, Social Impact, Startup

Written by Rachel Neaman, Strategy Director, DigitalAgenda

Next Tuesday, 15th October, I shall be in Paddington at the offices of Nominet for the opening of nominations for the DigitalAgenda Impact Awards 2020.

The DigitalAgenda Impact Awards, held every March, celebrate technology innovations that improve people’s lives and the world around us. Now in their fourth year, the awards are open to any UK-operating business, individual, government or non-profit using digital products or services for positive social impact.

As the DigitalAgenda Power and Responsibility Summit so amply demonstrates, we are seeing a greater focus across all sectors on tech for good and humane technology. The DigitalAgenda Impact Awards 2020 will build on this momentum to celebrate the best examples of organisations and individuals using tech to get the best for society and the economy.

Each year, the DigitalAgenda Impact Awards culminate in an award ceremony. But this is far from the usual black-tie-and-dinner affair. Our fresh and tested format offers an engaging blend of conference and awards, with a chance to hear keynotes, panels and interviews with a range of external speakers and finalists discussing the issues surrounding each category.

Past speakers have included: Professor Sue Black OBE; Margot James MP, former Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries; Tessa Clarke from award-winning app OLIO; the young entrepreneur Ben Towers; National Lottery Community Fund Chief Executive Dawn Austwick OBE; BGV’s Paul Miller; and Eden Founder Sir Tim Smit KBE.

The awards event also includes plenty of breaks, building in time for guests to connect and network and of course to celebrate with the finalists over refreshments at the winners’ reception afterwards.

The big news this year is the introduction of two new categories: Tech for Good Entrepreneur of the Year; and Impact Investor of the Year. These new categories replace a one-off judges’ award for Individual of the Year, previously won by Tom Steinberg (2018) and Annika Small (2019).

We are also changing the way we judge. We will have 20 judges in all doing the shortlisting and, for the first time, conducting face-to-face interviews with our 36 finalists when they are announced in early 2020. From these 36 finalists the judges will then select the 12 category winners.

Entries will be judged against five criteria:

Product or service — the digital innovation on offer; Idea — the core proposition; Team — the skills, experience and diversity of the people working on the project; Scalability — plans to grow take-up and reach; and Impact — how the project is making a positive change to the lives of individuals and society as a whole.

When we announce the 36 finalists in January 2020, we will also open a “People’s Choice” vote to give all of the 10,000+ DigitalAgenda subscribers a chance to vote for the finalist who most appeals to you.

So please keep your eyes open for the call for nominations for the DigitalAgenda Impact Awards 2020, opening for entries at 5.30pm on Tuesday 15th October, and spread the word. Let us and your fellow community members know which are the organisations and who are the individuals making the greatest impact across the UK.

I hope to see you in March at the DigitalAgenda Impact Awards ceremony when we reveal the 2020 winners.