Digital @ UNGA Awards 2026: Part of a Worldwide Digital Inclusion Movement

By Jennifer Corriero, Executive Director, TakingITGlobal and the Connected North program

Technology has its greatest impact when it expands people’s ability to participate, learn, communicate and access opportunity.

The Digital @ UNGA 2026 Award finalists are recognized this week in New York at the United Nations General Assembly. This Award selects projects from 1,500 applications and brings together initiatives demonstrating different approaches to using digital innovation to support access, skills and capacity building.

The jury includes representatives from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNESCO bringing expertise across technology, development, education and policy.

Connected North is honoured to be selected from Canada in the Digital Inclusion category as one of 15 finalists from around the world. Finalists from other countries are from Belgium, Benin, Cambodia, China, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Geography can create significant barriers when it comes to accessing educational opportunities.

Connected North is proud to showcase lessons learned on the importance of building respectful partnerships and approaches to using technology not simply to overcome distance, but to create meaningful human connections. The program uses live, interactive technology to facilitate learning adventures for schools in remote, Indigenous communities with museums, science centres, universities, cultural centres and potential career mentors who may be thousands of kilometres away from a student’s classroom.

During the 2025–26 school year, Connected North served 224 schools and 1,541 teachers, delivering 8,206 live sessions and creating 116,819 student interactions.

Connected North demonstrates that when technology is intentionally designed around access, relationships, culture and opportunity, distance does not have to define what is possible for a learner.

This recognition belongs to the students, educators, content providers, communities, partners and supporters who have built Connected North with us over the past decade.

Digital inclusion works best when technology is a bridge rather than the destination. It becomes powerful when it connects a student to someone they can learn from, who shows up with genuine interest in who they are, where they come from, and what they hope for in the future. The Connected North program model highlights the important role of students as active participants, expanding networks, sharing ideas, asking questions and engaging in a process of building respectful and reciprocal relationships.

Learn more about the Digital @ UNGA 2026 Awards in Digital Inclusion