Samsung Electronics Ranks Seventh in WBA’s 2023 Digital Inclusion Benchmark – Samsung Global Newsroom

Samsung Electronics has announced that it ranked seventh out of 200 companies in the World Benchmarking Alliance’s (WBA) 2023 Digital Inclusion Benchmark.

The WBA represents an alliance forged among more than 200 global, regional and local organizations to shape private sector contributions to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The WBA reviews companies focusing on seven key categories, including human rights, the environment and digital inclusion. The WBA launched its first Digital Inclusion Benchmark in 2020, which assessed companies’ progress in improving access to technology, building digital skills, promoting trustworthy use and innovating at both open and ethical.

Samsung was recognized, in part, for its ongoing efforts to promote access. The company follows best practices in accessibility support by incorporating accessibility features into its products. Samsung’s latest TVs also include an avatar-based sign language guide¹ which provides sign language menu descriptions for greater accessibility. The company also discloses data on how the economic value it generates is distributed among stakeholders and calculates its sustainable value creation.

Samsung also provides support for various programs that advance digital skills at all levels and increase school connectivity. The company demonstrates best practices by administering its programs through its local offices, often in partnership with local governments and non-governmental organizations. It also reports participation measures for its programs. The company’s flagship programs, the ‘Samsung Innovation Campus’, which has offered technology training programs to unemployed teenagers and youth since 2013, and the ‘Samsung SW Academy for Youth’, a one-year program based in Korea which offers theoretical and practical training to help young people develop their abilities and competitiveness as professional software developers since 2018, offer support in the form of job opportunities in future technological fields.

Samsung continued its commitment to open innovation by participating in several standards bodies and conducting open source projects. The company contributes to the technology innovation ecosystem through its Samsung NEXT and C-Lab Outside programs in Korea, which help foster the startup ecosystem through accelerators and incubators. The company also has an AI ethics council and is committed to respecting the ethical principles of AI.

Samsung is committed to promoting digital responsibility as a company that develops products and technologies that improve people’s lives. Going forward, the company will continue to explore ways to make it easier to access and use a wide range of practical and meaningful digital technologies.

¹ Features provided may vary by model and country.