The 2026 World Internet Conference Global Youth Leadership Program, now in its fourth year, has selected 20 outstanding young talents from more than 2,600 applicants in over 140 countries and regions.
Four youth leaders brought proven, solution-oriented practices to the summit, covering autonomous AI, precision agriculture, digital education and public services through gamification. With feet-on-the-ground experience and a global vision, they aim to turn digital innovation into tangible social benefits and advance a shared future in cyberspace.
Hassan Al-Shama, founder and CEO of SupraOS from Turkiye, builds autonomous AI agents that carry out operational actions across enterprise systems while leaving final authority and verification of changes to humans.
He has deep experience in digital transformation and public digital infrastructure.
At the summit, he proposed the Verified AI Action Lab, a collaborative initiative with the WIC global youth community. The lab will establish a platform-neutral framework to record evidence, define authority boundaries, verify actions, track outcomes and provide redress for consequential AI operations.
He emphasized that human creativity remains central to unlocking AI's practical value, and called for openness in building cross-sector solutions that serve the public good.
Lilan Dayananda, co-founder and CEO of Elzion Agro from Sri Lanka, devotes himself to ending food insecurity through precision agriculture and international collaboration.
He holds that food insecurity is not merely a problem of insufficient food supply, but of unequal access, limited knowledge and inadequate support — a complex challenge that demands a holistic approach.
"Technology alone isn't enough. We need collaboration, understanding and, above all, diplomacy to build bridges between nations, organizations and communities," he said.
His work introduces climate-smart, data-driven farming methods and optimized food production systems to help local farmers reduce food waste and increase food availability.
Through the WIC platform, he aims to facilitate cross-border knowledge sharing and multi-stakeholder partnerships so that sustainable agricultural technologies can benefit more underserved regions.
Shirley Santana Herrera, an economist, social entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Excelsior Academy from the Dominican Republic, is dedicated to closing the digital divide and addressing inequities in educational access across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Her initiatives have delivered learning opportunities to thousands of young people in the region.
"Information is everywhere, what is missing is a system that helps young people make sense of it," she said.
Through the WIC program, she looks forward to learning from global experts in digital development and AI governance, and building partnerships to scale her projects across the region.
Winston Ng, founder and CEO of gamification technology company Funnue from Singapore, works to build an inclusive metaverse where public institutions meet young people.
He argues that the real digital divide today is not an access gap, but a presence gap — young people live their lives on digital platforms, while public institutions are largely absent from those spaces.
With Singaporean government agencies, he and his team developed Singverse, a 1:1 virtual replica of Singapore, and an anti-fraud metaverse project, delivering both civic education and digital security awareness through immersive, interactive gameplay.
"Youth are the only group that can translate between the two sides. We understand the language of platforms and we can work hand in hand with institutions," he said.
He plans to co-build a shared virtual world anchored in digital Wuzhen, with national pavilions and educational mini-games, and to open-source his development framework as a digital public good.
