ICT Awards Ceremony Concludes Successfully

Kathmandu – Genese Solution, a UK-based IT consulting and cybersecurity company, and Zoom, a global communications technology firm, sponsored the highly successful ICT Awards ceremony in Kathmandu.

The grand finale of the 9th edition of the InDrive ICT Awards 2024, supported by the Ncell Foundation, was held at the Hyatt Regency Kathmandu last week.

“The InDrive ICT Awards 2024 provided a common platform to bring together industry leaders, entrepreneurs, officials, and academics to discuss the prospects and challenges faced by Nepal’s ICT industry,” said Niranjan Kunwar, Chief Technical and Cybersecurity Officer at Genese Solution. “We are delighted to have partnered with this year’s ICT Awards.”

Living with ICT, the organisers, invited nominations in 14 categories this year, including the newly introduced ‘Social Innovation ICT Award 2024’. The awards recognised startups in the technology sector, innovations, products, digital services offered by governmental and private organisations, and digital education.

The awards were presented by the Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Prithvi Subba Gurung, the Chief Minister of Karnali Province, and the Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission, Prof. Dr Shivaraj Adhikari, among others. This year’s Pioneer ICT Award was conferred on Prof. Dr Suresh Raj Sharma, the founder of Kathmandu University.

The Ncell Women Icon ICT Award was awarded to Bandana Sharma, head of the Digital Banking and Cards Department at Nepal Bank. The Professional Excellence ICT Award was presented to Dr Bishesh Khanal, founder of Namica. The Entrepreneur ICT Award was given to Manohar Adhikari, founder of Foodmandu, while the Nepali Diaspora ICT Award was won by Nami Baral, co-founder of Neural Company.

Crimson Tech Company won this year’s InDrive Startup ICT Award, and GeoKrishi was recognised with the Asia Foundation Social Innovation ICT Award 2024. The Product ICT Award went to the API Management System, and SpeakUp received the Rising Star Innovation ICT Award.

Similarly, the HamroPay Public Choice ICT Award, which garnered the highest number of votes, was awarded to Jyaap Services. The South Asia Startup ICT Award 2024, aimed at startups from across the region, was won by India’s Hyphen Associates. Startups from other South Asian countries that made it to the top five were also honoured.

In the institutional award categories, this year’s Digital Governance Award was presented to the Supreme Court, while IME Pay secured the Digital Services Award. The Digital Education ICT Award was conferred on Sukuna Secondary School in Morang (public sector) and LRI Kalanki (private sector).

Additionally, the best startups from all seven provinces were recognised with the Province Startup ICT Recognition 2024. The awardees included Delta Tech Pvt. Ltd. (Koshi Province), Tejas Tech Pvt. Ltd. (Madhesh Province), Abhiyantrik Karmashala Pvt. Ltd. (Bagmati Province), Akash Digital Pvt. Ltd. (Gandaki Province), Ninja Infosys Pvt. Ltd. (Lumbini Province), Business Online Service Pvt. Ltd. (Karnali Province), and Far West Infotech and Research Centre (Sudurpashchim Province).

The event was further enlivened by musical performances from popular singers Mahesh Kafle and Asmita Adhikari.
Since its inception in 2016, the ICT Awards programme, organised annually by Living with ICT, has been recognised as the largest and most prestigious awards event in Nepal’s information and communication technology sector. The ICT Awards are also official partners of international accolades such as the WSA Awards and Aurora Tech Awards.

This year, the ICT Awards 2024 received over 800 online nominations across 14 categories. The winners were selected after more than 25 jury meetings, involving 14 national and 3 international experts.