Hasta La Creative!

What3Words, a tech-driven global addressing system that assigns a simple three-word identifier to any spot in the world, nabbed the Innovation Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The technology was created out of the eponymous company co-founded by Chris Sheldrick and Jack Waley-Cohen. It divides the entire globe into 57 trillion three-meter squares and assigns to each of those squares an address created by combining three common words, such as karaoke.novice.doing.

The system is simple and precise. It works in multiple languages and requires just 10 MB of memory, so that it can be used on nearly any device offline without a data connection. It also answers a problem faced by about 75% of the world–approximately 4 billion people don’t have reliable street addresses. For developing countries, the technology can help scale microfinancing, expedite water support and humanitarian aid to locations in need. For developed nations, it can help ensure proper package delivery, promote awareness for local businesses and more.

During the Cannes Lions Innovation Press Conference, Jury President Nick Law, who’s served on the festival’s juries four different times, described this year’s entries as “the best body of work I’ve seen on a jury.” The category is unique in that as part of the judging process, the jury hears presentations from the creators of all the shortlisted work. This year, there were 34 in that group and Mr. Law said they comprised a surprising range of ideas: “We had robots, chopsticks and all sorts of crazy shit. The only thing that was missing was the selfie stick. I can’t believe someone didn’t enter it — so elegant, simple and it changed the world,” he joked.

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