Geeks Without Frontiers Nominated for the 2017 Global Grand Challenge Awards

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 11, 2017 -- Geeks Without Frontiers (GEEKS) announced today that the non-profit organization has, for the second year running, been nominated for the Global Grand Challenge Awards for its ‘CommunityConnect’ initiative to be announced at the August 13-15, Singularity Global Summit in San Francisco, California.

Global Grand Challenge Awards 2017 CommunityConnect!

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a5a49f52-7cdc-45ed-aba7-7fc46715ddc1

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The 2017 Global Grand Challenge nomination is for GEEKS’s satellite broadband focused ‘CommunityConnect’ initiative, which aims to help close the global digital divide by introducing best practices for satellite operators, entities regulating and licensing satellite bandwidth, and operators on the ground. GEEKS’s co-founder, Michael Potter said, “We are honored that the high impact Geeks Without Frontiers initiatives have continue to be recognized on a global level.” The ‘CommunityConnect’ working group has several industry experts including from EchoStar, ManSat, the Global VSAT Forum (GVF), the law firm Reed Smith, and BLUETOWN.

As part of ‘Connectivity Week’, to be held in collaboration with the IEEE, GEEKS will hold its October 20th 2017 ‘Connectivity is the Revolution’ thought leadership forum in Washington D.C. At the conference, GEEKS will formally release its ‘CommunityConnect’ international model code and best practices initiative designed to drive and inspire a global policy effort to help close the digital divide, and help to bring connectivity to the estimated 3.2 billion people who do not have the benefit of internet access.

GEEKS was also a finalist in 2016 for its ‘DigOnce!’ Model Law, a global policy initiative designed to help close the digital divide by introducing a customizable legislative framework designed to increase the availability of broadband internet facilities by reducing the time, cost, and environmental impact of rolling out high-speed communications networks. Following the release of ‘DigOnce!’, GEEKS co-founder Michael Potter (and GEEKS Director John Morris as alternate) was appointed to a sub-committee of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, which is focused on introducing model codes of practice designed to help close the digital divide in the U.S.

About the Global Grand Challenge Awards

Singularity University (SU) believes that leveraging the convergence of exponential technologies will advance us along the path to solving our Global Grand Challenges (GGCs), and will shift humanity from an era of scarcity to one of abundance. There are twelve global grand challenges: Energy, Environment, Food, Shelter, Space, Water, Disaster Resilience, Shelter, Health, Learning, Prosperity, and Security. In addressing each GGC, SU is solving for the following three perspectives: ensuring basic needs are met for all people, sustaining and improving quality of life, and mitigating future risks. A maximum of three participating organizations are selected for each of the 12 GGC’s.

About Geeks Without Frontiers

The GEEKS goal is to positively impact the lives of a billion people in the next ten years through the innovative use of technology, connectivity, and sustainable social enterprise models. GEEKS initiatives include: ‘DigOnce!’, ‘VillageConnect’ and ‘CommunityConnect’.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GeeksWF

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Web: www.GeeksWF.org

Contact: [email protected]