The Global Junior Challenge (GJC), promoted by the City of Rome, is an initiative designed and organised by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale to promote an inclusive knowledge society. The GJC is a unique opportunity to reflect on the importance of the challenges facing education in the 21st century and the role of technology in social integration, development and the demise of poverty worldwide.

The 2009 Global Junior Challenge, which took place in the European Year of Creativity and Innovation, features a special new category on "Creativity and Social Innovation" and an international meeting with the most important research and action centres for social innovation.

GJC gives a chance for organizations, schools, agencies and associations to meet, extend partnerships and participate in seminars with leading international experts on issues such as the digital divide and social inclusion.

This time GJC jury experts have examined 456 applications from 30 different countries of the world. The jury selected 109 finalist projects.

The Awards Ceremony took place on 9 October at the Rome City Hall, the Campidoglio, where 12 prizes were assigned along with two special mentions.

Laura Marsilio, Rome City Councillor for Schools, Family and Infancy presented the statuette of the Etruscan she-wolf with Romulus and Remus to the winning projects in each category:

• Bla Bla Bla e-democracy and minors (Vicenza, Italy) for the "Up to 10 years old" category
• Schoolvision 2009! (UK) for the "Up to 15 years old" category
• The Pizza Business Across Europe (Cosenza, Italy) for the "Up to 18 years old" category
• Ict4d Research and Resource Centre in the Rural Rwenzori Region (Uganda) for the "Up to 29 years old" category
• Takoradi Educational Resource Centre (Ghana) for the "Work" category
• EE-Net Game (Bari, Italy) for the "Creativity and Social Innovation" category

The President of the City Council, Marco Pomarici, presented The Special Prize of the President of the Republic, three silver medals to the most innovative Italian school projects:

• I’m at Home, but at School: a webcam to participate, Rome
• On-line Didactics for a Sustainable Planet, Terni
• New Technologies, Ancient Values: Radio K2, Verbania

The international jury also extended a special mention to two teachers for the quality and quantity of the projects presented: Marsha Goren (Ein Ganim Elementary School, Israel) and Marina Marino (Liceo scientifico Francesco Cecioni, Livorno).

The Small Fund Award, a small fund reserved for projects from the poorer areas of the world, went to:

• Ict4d Research and Resource Centre in the Rural Rwenzori Region (Uganda)
• Takoradi Educational Resource Centre (Ghana)
• Education in the prevention in Aids/Sti in the Andean Region and Caribbean, Peru

Alfonso Molina, Scientific Director of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, presented the Small Fund Awards.

In the context of the Global Junior Challenge Award, an international conference "Social Innovation for a Better World in Our Time" organized by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale with the support of the Municipality of Rome took place.

This conference brought together a selected group of scholars and leaders in the field of social innovation in order to enhance our understanding of the nature, governance, successes/failures, challenges of social innovation. The reflection addresses both theories and practices of social innovation from an academic, practitioner and policy viewpoints, including visions on how to take forward social innovation/s on a global scale. The conference intends to produce a book with the papers contributed by participants in order to extend the potential impact of the ideas generated.

IIS General Director Tatiana Ershova is member of the GJC international jury since 2000, the starting year of the contest. In this capacity she participated in the conference and the GJC Awards Ceremony. Peter Ershov, IIS analyst, also took part in these events.