Katerva: Honors 2012 Awards Winners

Jay OwenGreen Prosperity, Sustainability News

Dear Katerva Community,

 

Already considered the pinnacle of global sustainability recognition, the Katerva Awards reached grand heights last week when the stunning Palais des Nations served as the backdrop for the Katerva Awards Ceremony.  On July 2 Katerva presented its 2012 Grand Prize and Peoples’ Choice Awards to Bioneedle Technology Group and Safe World for Women, respectively.

(Katerva Grand Prize Winner Gijsbert van de Wijsdeven of Bioneedle and Katerva People’s Choice Award Winner Chris Crowstaff of Safe World for Women accept their awards from Ambassador Néstor Osorio of Colombia, President of UN ECOSOC, at the United Nations in Geneva.)

Hosted by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and held in conjunction with the UN Annual Ministerial Review in Geneva, the awards were presented by Ambassador Néstor Osorio of Columbia, President of the UN Economic and Social Council. The subsequent press conference was chaired by the Vice President of UN ECOSOC, Ambassador Martin Sajdik, Permanent Representative of Austria to the UN and Incoming President of ECOSOC.

(Vice President of UN ECOSOC, Ambassador Martin Sajdik, Permanent Representative of Austria to the UN; Felix Dodds, Author; Katerva Grand Prize Winner Gijsbert van de Wijsdeven of Bioneedle; Katerva People’s Choice Award Winner Chris Crowstaff of Safe World for Women.)

Katerva Network super-connector, Felix Dodds, hosted the awards ceremony. Katerva is very grateful to the UN, Ambassador Orsorio and to Mr. Dodds for their support in recognizing these remarkable awards winners and helping to raise the profile of Katerva by bringing its mission to a wider audience.

Ambassador Osorio echoed the feeling of Katerva’s founders and supporters on the importance of innovation and its role in solving the world’s grand challenges, saying, “Innovation plays a pivotal and catalytic role in helping to bring about change in just about every aspect of our lives. Its impact on policy can be far-reaching and is a powerful tool for dealing with the many pressing challenges of today’s world. Katerva’s two award recipients have contributed to this in a very big way; your innovations are a concrete demonstration of the integrated approach to solving problems, (by) addressing their social, economic and environmental dimensions. “

For more perspective and photos of the event, Felix Dodd’s blog; and for more information on Katerva’s 2012 Awards Winners, visit www.katerva.org.

Warm wishes,
The Katerva Team