Leandro Lazarini

The World Summit Award (WSA) is a global initiative that recognizes and promotes the world's most innovative digital solutions, valuing not only technological excellence but also their relevance to the context in which they were created and their contribution to inclusion and accessibility. The WSA was established in 2003 in Geneva as part of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), a United Nations initiative. Since then, it has been held every two years and coordinated by the International Center for New Media (ICNM) in Salzburg, Austria. More than a technology award, the WSA is a global celebration of diversity, innovation, accessibility, and inclusion. Its mission extends beyond recognizing cutting-edge projects: it reinforces the idea that information and communication technologies are essential drivers of sustainable development at the individual, national, and global levels. The global competition is built upon national selections involving more than 180 countries. Through local competitions, each participating nation identifies its most outstanding projects across eight award categories. Public institutions, private companies, non-profit organizations, startups, and individual innovators are all eligible to participate. In Brazil, the WSA annually identifies, promotes, and showcases the country's most innovative, creative, inclusive, and socially impactful digital projects—those that contribute to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Throughout its 18-year history, the WSA has recognized more than 700 outstanding projects from around the world.