Washington DC, January 28, 2004 – The share of the world’s Internet users living in developing countries increased from two to 23 percent between 1991 and 2001. In China, five million new mobile phone subscribers sign up each month. Africa has the highest percent growth in mobile phones. How is this spread of information and communication technologies (ICT) helping to improve people’s lives in developing nations?
 
The Development Gateway Foundation is extending its search for the ICT projects, policies, programs and individuals that have had the greatest development impact. It is resetting the deadline for its global Petersberg Prize competition to March 22, 2004, allowing more time for the submission process in this first year of the award.
 
The 100,000 euros Petersberg Prize will recognize outstanding achievement in the use of ICT for social and economic development in the last 10 years. In addition to awarding the Prize, the Development Gateway will share nominees’ stories on its global portal of knowledge for development, to help advance understanding of their work and of the contribution of ICT to development.
 
An international panel of independent jurors will select the winner. The panel is led by Jorge Quiroga, former President of Bolivia and Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Other distinguished members  include Vinton Cerf (USA), Senior Vice President of Technology Strategy, MCI, often acknowledged as one of the creators of the Internet; Vallampadugai Arunachalam (India), Distinguished Service Professor, Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University; Hisham El-Sherif(Egypt), Chairman and CEO of IT Ventures and founder of Nile Online; Miriam Meckel (Germany), Undersecretary for Europe, International Affairs, and Media of North Rhine-Westphalia; Wendy Millin (South Africa), Partnership Manager of the ‘i-community’ initiative, Hewlett-Packard; Mary O'Kane(Australia), Executive Chairman, Mary O’Kane & Associates Pty Ltd., and former Vice-Chancellor and President of Adelaide University.
 
The award program aims to help identify important work and leaders in the field.  “We don’t know how many Mother Teresa’s are using these technologies,” said Dr. Arunachalam. “It is important that we recognize them, for two reasons: first, to focus our attention on technologies that take people away from poverty and hopelessness, and second, to help others emulate such initiatives.”
 
The Prize is named for the Petersberg conference center, near Bonn, Germany, where the Prize was proposed at the first Development Gateway Forum in May 2003. Prize sponsors are Deutsche Telekom AG and Microsoft Deutschland GmbH. An award ceremony is planned for the next Development Gateway Forum in June 2004. More information, rules, and online nomination forms are available at www.developmentgateway.org/prize.
 
About the Development Gateway Foundation
The Development Gateway is an enabler of development. It helps improve people’s lives in developing nations by building partnerships and information systems that provide access to knowledge for development. The Development Gateway is an independent not-for-profit organization.
 
For more information contact:
Karen Lynch  (tel: +1 202 458 6916; e-mail: klynch@dgfoundation.org )