WSA Global Congress – Hyderabad, India
Digital Democracy & Us: Impact Solutions for Global Challenges
Where: T-Hub - Hyderabad, India
When: April 6 - 9, 2025
The WSA Global Congress in Hyderabad was a confluence of people tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges—from digital divides to data governance and democracy. It brought together a global community of social entrepreneurs using digital technology to drive positive change, one solution at a time.
This gathering offered a unique platform for participants to share ideas on global social issues, gain direct exposure to innovators, government officials, and private sector leaders, and engage in deep, eye-level exchanges with a diverse, multi-stakeholder community.
Participants also benefited from learning directly from Indian ecosystem partners about the country’s thriving digital and IT infrastructure, while exploring Hyderabad’s buzzing innovation scene.
Key Topics
Digital Democracy
Citizen Participation, Access, and Transparency
Digital tools are transforming how we engage with governance, offering new ways to amplify voices, access information, and participate in decision-making. Yet, it also raises critical questions: How do echo chambers shape public opinion? Can we safeguard privacy and trust in the face of data misuse? What happens to democracy when millions lack digital access?
Join for bold discussions, discover best practice solutions and learn from international experts.
It's in our hands
Data, Digital Divides, Ethics
The digital world is a reflection of our choices—how we manage data, uphold sovereignty, and define ethical boundaries. Are we building systems that empower people or reinforce control? Who owns our digital identities, and how do we ensure fairness in an interconnected age?
Impact Solutions
Social Entrepreneurship, UN SDGs, ESGs
How can digital innovation address the world’s toughest challenges? From climate action to social equity, health, education or inclusion. Discover global best practices and connect with global changemakers and innovation experts.
Winners
Program flow
WSA Global Congress Evolving Program by WSA
Photos
For 20+ years, every year over 200 nationally elected solutions get judged by 400+ global jury members across 3 voting rounds and 45 overall global winners are selected. These 45 overall winners are then recognized and celebrated during the Global Congress.
Global Champions
WSA believes in cooperation over competition. The primary objective of WSA’s Winners is generally to make the world a better place for everyone involved, as opposed to dominating markets and crushing competitors. However, a little bit of competition can be a lot of fun! That’s why every year during the Global Congress, the WSA jurors select 1 global champion from each of the 5 winners. Here are the 9 Global Champions of this year!
Sach AI | India
SACH AI Chatbot by Factly Media combats misinformation in India by providing real-time verification of text and image-based content. It supports multiple vernacular languages and offers fact-checking with a database of over 400,000 sources.
Duniya Healthcare | Zambia
Duniya Healthcare transforms healthcare access in rural Zambia through mobile clinics and telemedicine, improving health outcomes, creating jobs, and empowering communities with proactive health education for sustainable, long-term impact.
Dalza | Luxembourg
Dalza is a platform that unites parents, carers, teachers, and therapists to support children with SEND, offering real-time tracking, communication, and seamless integration of educational and therapeutic goals.
Waterly | Poland
Waterly is an innovative water quality monitoring system that uses IoT and AI-powered buoys for real-time, autonomous water monitoring. It provides continuous, frequent data, enabling rapid response to water threats, ensuring safer water for communities, and enhancing environmental protection. Waterly’s scalable technology offers predictive analytics to prevent ecological damage.
socialbnb | Germany
Socialbnb transforms travel by connecting adventurers with unique stays that support education, conservation, and social justice projects. With over 2,500 bookings in 45+ countries, it fosters sustainable tourism, uplifts communities, and protects the planet.
Cataki | Brazil
Cataki is a Brazilian app that connects waste generators with recyclable material collectors, driving social and environmental impact. It educates users on recycling and boosts collectors’ income, promoting sustainable practices.
NaPorta | Brazil
The naPorta project empowers underserved Brazilian communities with access to e-commerce through Logistics as a Service (LaaS). Operating across 500 locations, it delivers social, economic, and environmental impact via sustainable, tech-driven logistics, creating jobs, boosting local economies, and enabling real-time delivery tracking.
Cerge | Australia
Cérge addresses accessibility challenges for people with disabilities by offering a comprehensive platform with pre-visit info, real-time communication, and customized guides. Used in over 200 venues, it enhances independence and social engagement, empowering users to navigate spaces confidently. Cérge fosters inclusivity without requiring significant physical modifications and promotes a more accessible, inclusive society.
Palumba | Spain
Palumba is a digital platform that helps young voters navigate politics and find candidates who align with their values. Created by a cross-border youth team, it makes elections engaging and accessible, starting with the European Parliament. Palumba provides localized candidate info, promotes participation, and empowers young people to vote confidently.
Key Participants
Digital Sangam: Bridging Citizens & Digital Innovation for High Impact
Digital Sangam was an international expo that took place at the WSA Global Congress on 7th-8th April at T-Hub, Hyderabad.
A flagship exhibition of the WSA Global Congress 2025, Digital Sangam was a key highlight organized by the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) in collaboration with the Government of Telangana. This dynamic expo celebrated the intersection of technology and citizen empowerment, showcasing how digital solutions could drive inclusive growth and sustainable development.
Digital Sangam highlighted Telangana’s advancements in digital transformation and its commitment to an inclusive digital future. The exhibition featured innovative solutions that enhanced governance, strengthened community engagement, and empowered individuals. Attendees experienced interactive demonstrations, engaged with WSA 2024 global winners, and explored best practices in digital innovation for social, economic, and environmental impact.
As a collaborative effort across governance, education, health, and sustainability, Digital Sangam reinforced the idea that digital justice must align with social justice to create equitable, lasting change.
Statements
ITU Secretary-General’s statement for the World Summit Awards (WSA) Global Congress 2025
Technology is more than networks and devices — it can connect people and communities, bridge socioeconomic divides, amplify marginalized voices, and turn dreams into reality.
This vision has driven the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process for the past twenty years.
As we approach the 20-year review of the WSIS process, we celebrate two decades of progress, partnership, and perseverance in harnessing digital solutions to tackle global challenges.
With five years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the urgency to act has never been greater.
The WSIS+20 Review is our chance to both reflect on the past and look towards the future.
It also reaffirms the power of multistakeholder collaboration — governments, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, the technical community, and academia all working together — to put digital technologies at the service of the SDGs.
On behalf of ITU, the United Nations agency for digital technologies, I thank the World Summit Awards for its commitment to the WSIS process and congratulate all the WSA Winners and Young Innovators.
Their achievements remind us that our shared digital future is not something that merely happens to us, but something we can actively shape.
I invite these young innovators to showcase their ideas at the youth track of the WSIS+20 High-Level Event in July 2025, where we will continue to build a better digital future for all.
Supporting and Strategic Partners
The Global Congress was co-organized by WSA and the DEF.
World Summit Awards (WSA) is a global community initiative that champions innovation ecosystems in 182 UN member states. WSA operates an international jury and award system to identify and honour digital impact solutions tied to the UN SDGs. WSA is working with a network of global experts with a focus on digital ingenuity for people, planet and prosperity.It serves as a due diligence engine and trend tracking pipeline for ESG partnerships. WSA was initiated in 2003 in the framework of the UN World Summit on the Information Society and closely works with UN entities like UNESCO, ITU, UNIDO, and the Youth Office to achieve its objectives – which include narrowing digital divides and contributing to an inclusive knowledge society.
The Digital Empowerment Foundation started almost at the sametime as WSA, as a Delhi-based nonprofit organization. Since morethan 20 years DEF is working towards empowering people to gainaccess to better healthcare, education, skills and livelihoodopportunities through digital literacy and digital tools. Theorganization’s main focus is to make technology easily accessible tothe masses, to empower women, youth, persons with disabilitiesand the elderly through providing functional digital literacy, medialiteracy, and digital up-skilling across agriculture, micro and nano-business, health, education, livelihood, and entrepreneurial skills.
Organized by
Event Partners
Outreach Partners
Knowledge Partners
Session Partner
