what3words and the Tech4Good Awards

AbilityNet’s Mark Walker spoke with Giles Rhys Jones, Chief Marketing Officer at what3words to discuss the story behind it, how it has been used across the world, and how winning a Tech4Good Award benefited the company.

Profile pictures of Giles Rhys Jones and Mark WalkerThe AbilityNet Tech4Good Awards are back this year to celebrate a new cohort of people and organisations using tech to make the world a better place.

Since 2011, the Tech4Good Awards have recognised over a hundred winners, including what3words, an app that gives an address to everyone on the planet. 

The full discussion is now available as a podcast episode.

Play the full episode on Spotify 
Play the full episode on Apple Podcasts 

What's the story behind what3words?

what3words was born out of a desire to make navigation simpler and more effective. They identified that a street address alone was not accurate enough to locate specific locations such as building entrances, and was not available for large rural areas and communities in areas such as Favelas in Brazil. The world was divided into three-by-three-metre squares, and each of these was given a distinct combination of three words. 

what3words is used by businesses to improve customer experience and efficiency, by emergency services and NGOs to find and help people in need, and by individuals in their daily lives to make navigation easier, safer, and more efficient. 

Find out more about what3words

How did winning a Tech4Good award support what3words?

During the podcast, Giles Rhys Jones highlighted three key benefits of entering and winning a Tech4Good Award was beneficial:

1. Refining your elevator pitch

The Tech4Good Awards offer the opportunity to “focus very tightly on your proposition and how you sell it”, says Jones, and "getting your elevator pitch down very, very tightly, was a really, really good exercise to go through.” 

2. Meeting like minded people and businesses

By bringing together a cohort of businesses, individuals, charities, and government bodies that are using technology to make the world a better place, is “a really good way to one meet like-minded people and two kind of chat through start-up life, which can be a bit of a lonely place.” 

3. Presenting the product to people who could use it

“What better way to get in front of new innovative companies and large businesses who are trying to do good in the world than to be part of a tech for good award show. Because all those organisations could actually use what3words in their own businesses.”

Enter the Tech4Good Awards NOW

The awards are free to enter, and entries are open until 5 May 2023. 

Entries are open to anyone, anywhere in the world using tech to make the world a better place, including individuals, businesses, charities, social enterprises, government bodies, and more. 

Enter the Tech4Good Awards

 

How to win a Tech4Good Award

Our how to win a Tech4good Award Webinar provided the chance to meet a past winner, and offered some useful pointers on what we’re looking for at the awards,


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