Right2Vote is Crowned Best Democracy-Affirming Startup of the Asia-Pacific Region
The e-voting Indian startup was awarded the prize at the Tech4Democracy Venture Day Delhi, co-organized by IE University and Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in conjunction with the Raisina Dialogue 2023 and the G20. Tech4Democracy is a global competition for innovators that develop democracy-affirming technologies, in partnership with the US Department of State.
New Delhi: The IE University Asia-Pacific Tech4Democracy Venture Day,, a competition for startups developing technologies that reinforce democratic principles and values, was held on March 2 at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi in conjunction with Raisina Dialogue and the G20. Tech4Democracy is an IE University initiative in partnership with the U.S. Department of State with the strategic support of Microsoft.
Right2Vote, an Indian mobile based voting platform that allows organizations to create and manage their own elections received the award for the best democratic-affirming startup in the continent. The other four finalists that pitched their innovations were Ringaze (Nepal), SafeToOpen (New Zealand), Smile (Singapore) and Suarise (Indonesia). All finalists will receive up to 150.000 USD in Microsoft cloud credits, free productivity software and GitHub Enterprise access and mentoring from business and technical experts.
Right2Vote secured a spot in the Tech4Democracy Global Final that will take place in Washington D.C during President Biden’s Summit for Democracy at the end of March, where all the winners of the 5 continental Venture Days (Europe, South America, North America, APAC and Africa) will compete for a monetary prize.
The jury was composed of a diverse group of experts, leading members of the investor community in Asia, top academics, and former government officials and executives, such as Gabby Bush, Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, University of Melbourne (Australia); Ko Fujii, Founder and CEO, Makaira (Japan); Vrinda Kapoor, CEO and Co-Founder of 3rdiTech (India); Nayani Nasa, Innovation Specialist at Microsoft India; Gautam Saxena, Founder and Managing Partner at Pegasus 7 Ventures (Singapore) and Priya Shah, General Partner at Theia Ventures (India).
During the event, Irene Blázquez, Director of the Center for the Governance of Change at IE University, stressed that “Tech4Democracy aims at raising awareness on the importance of technologies that incorporate democratic values in their design, development, and deployment”.
The event counted the participation of Anirban Sarma, Chair of the T20 Task Force at ORF, who stated that “Promoting start-ups and innovation has been an important part of the G20 since 2018. Some of the key ideas that have shaped these discussions are the need to advance policies that foster innovation and market access; to ensure that there are more women-led start-ups in the tech sectors; and to encourage startups to adopt cutting-edge emerging tech.”
The last continental Tech4Democracy Venture Day (Africa) will take place next week in Cape Town (South Africa). Five startups with the greatest potential in the development of technologies that consolidate democracy in the African continent will compete to join Right2Vote in the Tech4Democracy Global Final.