Kicking off the Young Innovators Online Jury!

This week marked the kickoff of the Young Innovators Award Jury’s first stage - the Online Jury!

So what does that actually mean?

It means our WSA Young Innovators Online Jury, a global crew of bright, impact-driven minds, is diving into applications day and night, making sure the Young Innovators Award shines a light on the most inspiring and diverse digital solutions of 2025. Lots of reading, plenty of evaluating, and the shortlist is steadily coming together.

Let’s break it all down:

Stage 1 – Application Process

Now officially closed. During this stage youth-led teams tackling urgent challenges within their local communities all over the world filled in our online application form for their digital solutions.
But great ideas don’t shortlist themselves, which brings us to…

Stage 2 – Online Jury (currently in full swing!)

Divided by categories, all eligible solutions are evaluated by a group of jurors based on innovation, impact, and relevance.
Their task? Narrow the global pool to 10–20 standout projects that will become the Young Innovators Shortlist.

Stage 3 – The Grand Jury

Once the shortlist is ready, it moves on to the next panel of jurors: all shortlisted teams present their work online to the Grand Jury in an online Pitching Session.
After careful evaluation, this group selects the Young Innovators Winners who will join us at the WSA Global Congress.

Stage 4 – Announcement & Global Congress

Winners are notified and publicly announced, then invited to the WSA Global Congress in Vienna, where they’ll pitch their solutions to an on-site Jury panel.
And finally, during the closing ceremony, the Global Champion is crowned!

Each stage of this process is guided by a diverse group of international experts, whose insights and digital expertise help highlight the solutions with the greatest global impact.

Get ready. All paths now lead to Vienna and the WSA Global Congress, where the most promising innovations will be showcased, and elevated to the next level.

Meet the decision makers

Mohamed Medani

Project Manager

GO PLATFORM

Algeria

Izabella Khanzratyan

Project Coordinator

Enterprise Incubator Foundation

Armenia

Sanja Cancar

Research associate

Austria

Leonie Dworsky

Researcher and Project Manager

Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI)

Austria

Patrick Würschl

Program Delivery Lead

Impact Hub Vienna

Austria

Akib Arafatul Islam

Founder & CEO

Startup Chattogram

Bangladesh

Gustavo Alves

CEO

Dash Criativa

Brazil

Eva Mejtová

EIT Community Officer

EIT Community Hub Czechia

Czech Republic

Mentesenot Kibebew

Freelance Software Engineer

Upwork

Ethiopia

Philippine Leclerc

Project Manager

EMERGING Valley

France

Asfand Yar Munir

R & D Engineer

Holcim

France

Malik Lanlokun

Software Engineer

University Of The Gambia

Gambia

Giorgi Bestavashvili

Business Development Lead | Software Engineer

US2.AI

Georgia

Lars Jung

Implementation Manager

Greenplan

Germany

Avgi-Maria Atmatzidou

Founder & President

Mykonos Multimedia Festival

Greece

Sudipta Ganguly

Programmer Analyst Trainee

Cognizant

India

Jatin Kataria

CEO

InMeSta, We Group

India

Daniel Gerlei

President & Co-founder

Global Young Entrepreneur Society (GYES)

Ireland

Sahba El-Shawa

Space and Sustainability Researcher; Founder

Palestine Space Institute & the Jordan Space Research Initiative

Jordan

Liene Ulmane

WSA Network and Communications

WSA

Latvia

Hempal Shrestha

Consultant | Researcher | Educator | Lawyer

Nepal Telecommunications Authority

Nepal

Utenwo-Ojo Abraham

Creative Designer

Vennroad

Nigeria

Moses Amos

Director

Programos Foundation

Nigeria

Esther Eruchie

Founder

FriendnPal

Nigeria

Queenesther Michael Hogan

Founder

Done and Dusted Student Community

Nigeria

Kingsley Iweka

Founder

Africa-OnTheRise.com

Nigeria

Prince Nyong

Co-founder/Programme Manager

Street Mentors Network

Nigeria

Awokunle Olayinka Tope

Founder

Euvol Ads

Nigeria

Israel Oyenigbehin

Project Manager

Digify Africa

Nigeria

Chioma Ukpabi

Executive Director

Skill Up With Kahdsole (SUWK)

Nigeria

Marko Paloski

System Engineer / Coordinator

Netcetera / IGF MKD

North Macedonia

Tatiana Gonzalez Bendezu

Training Analyst

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

Peru

Jacek Korzeniak

Project Director

OIC Poland Foundation/Unicorn Hub

Poland

Magdalena Kubów

PHD I Management

SWPS University

Poland

Kaja Posnik

Program Director

Girls Global Ready by Girls Future Ready Foundation

Poland

Marcin Waryszak

CEO & Founder

Calmsie

Poland

Murengerantwari Dorce

Founder and Marketing manager of CADS Health Plus Ltd

CADS Health Plus Ltd

Rwanda

Dušica Birovljević

Nomcentar NGO

Serbia

Nadja Petrović

Professor

High School ,,Nada Dimic”

Serbia

Harrison Chong

Co-founder, CEO

Jalan Journey

Singapore

Wanying Weng

Country Manager

Sustainable Living Lab

Singapore

Jan Peloza

CEO

Impact Hub Ljubljana

Slovenia

Lilan Dayananda

Managing Director

Elzian Agro (Private) Limited

Sri Lanka

Samitha Vidhanaarachchi

PhD Candidate

Murdoch University

Sri Lanka

Alejandra Prieto

Director

Fellowships & Alumni

Switzerland

Joud Khattab

Information Management Officer

UNICEF

Syrian Arab Republic

Nazir Atul

Founder/ Senior Program manager

Visual Aided Stories (VAS)

Tanzania

Kuruthumu Kasenya

Executive Director

The Smile Initiative

Tanzania

Brian Sisti Marishay

Digital Marketer and Designer

Oohbit Innovations Limited

Tanzania

Jonan Katende

Business Manager

Justice Chatbot Limited

Uganda

Sean Schrader

MBA Student

University of South Florida

United States of America

Thi Kim Hang Ho

Junior Student

Sunmoon University

Vietnam

Rosaria Etambuyu Simusandu

Student / Research Laboratory Assistant

The University of Zambia

Zambia

Co-Funded by the European Union