Suppose you can charge your smartphone with your T-shirt or, you can let your chop sticks tell you if your food is healthy or not. These are just two examples of where digital technology is improving our world. And, these are just two of the ten winners presented at the  8th Netexplo Forum hosted by Unesco in Paris.

The Netexplo is a global observatory for Digital Change, It was set up in France with the support the French Senate and French Ministry for the Digital Economy and studies the impact of digital technology on society and business. A global network of innovation spotter identifies and selects Digital innovations.

This year they have spotted inventions like: a Wearable Thermo-Element invented by the Korean Advanced Institute for Science & Technology that can be incorporated into clothing to power phones and other mobile devices. Or, chop sticks invented by Chinese internet giant Baidu which combines cutting-edge technology with centuries-old utensil allowing the user to spot and tainted oils in your food. Interesting, these chop sticks started off as an April’s fool joke with Baidu wanted to play but, based on the feedback of market they decided to really build them. Please check this link to the 10 winners of this year’s Netexplo forum.

CIONET was invited to attend the forum as a guest of Indrajit Banerjee, the director of UNESCO’s Knowledge Society Division. This Division promotes the application of ICT to enhance the quality of and access to education, build scientific knowledge, promote open access to scientific research results, and empower local communities.

The Division also promotes free and open source software, open web and open standards, as well as protects and digitize documentary heritage through the Memory of the World Programme. It fosters the role of libraries and archives and is responsible for further strengthening of the World Digital Library.

Indrajit Banerjee will hold the keynote address at the CIO CITY Gala dinner on June 4th. He will cover how ICT has a positive impact on societies, his role a secretary of Memory of the World Register and how CIONET members as Digital Leaders can support this. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear the world thought leader in terms of building the knowledge society, check out the full program and register now for CIO CITY’15!