Nepal Infrastructure 
KATHMANDU: A competition will be held among the startups of South Asian countries for the seventh edition of the ICT Award. Online nominations for the South Asia Startup ‘ICT Award 2022’ opened on 27th July. Living with ICT, in collaboration with the various national and international organizations, is organizing the event in Kathmandu. Organizers of the program said that IT and digital startup companies less than 4 years old from South Asian countries India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Maldives could register nominations. A selection committee comprising experts from different countries will be formed to evaluate the nomination.
The ICT Award, which started in 2016, is organized every year in a revised and expanded manner. Rajan Lamsal, chairman of the organizing committee, said that this award has been announced to develop the startup ecosystem at the international level from this year. Nominations have already been opened for various 11 categories.
Among the 11 other categories open for nominations this year, Startup ICT Award (Nepal), Product ICT Award, and Rising Star Innovation ICT Award, 3 categories are related to startup and innovation. The categories of awards given to individuals who have made special contributions in the field of ICT are the Pioneer ICT Award, Entrepreneur ICT Award, Nepali Diaspora ICT Award, and Woman Icon ICT Award.
To register nominations for ICT Awards, aspirants themselves or anyone else can register nominations online.In order to participate in the award, one has to go to the ICT Award website (ictaward.org) and choose the category and fill in the online form.
The organizers will conduct the selection process comprising five phases to make the award excellent and transparent during these 6 months. A total of 25 jury committees ( 12 expert committees, 13 special advisory committees) will meet regularly for the awards.
Award winners will receive various services and facilities along with special honors. The winners of the startup category will also get concessional loan facilities and investment opportunities. Likewise, the award winners and the best will get the opportunity to participate in the World Summit Award. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Nepal Telecommunication Authority, NAST, FNCCI, and other private sector corporate organizations are among the partners of the event.
