The World Summit Award (WSA) is the global initiative to and promote the world''s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. WSA was started in 2003 in the framework of the United Nations'' World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) as a contribution of the Austrian Government to the global effort to bridge the digital divide and close the content gap. WSA activities include national contests and ions of best practice, a global contest held every 2 years and content-focused national and international conferences with exhibitions — the WSA Road Show.

WSA works towards a global information society that enables all people to , receive and share information and knowledge for their own economic, social, cultural and political benefits. It works in line with the goals of the WSIS, held in Geneva in December 2003 and in Tunis in 2005, which intends to make this vision real.

WSA directs the focus of the UN on global efforts to support and develop high-quality e-Contents and innovative ICT applications. By ing, presenting and promoting the best products from all over the world in that field, it makes a contribution to bridging the Digital Divide and narrowing the Content Gap. It cooperates with the relevant UN organisations and agencies such as UNESCO and UNIDO, national governments and agencies, the ICT industries and e-Business organisations, NGOs and civil society in all UN member states.

Strong partnership with GAID has been the main link to the UN since WSA launch in 2003. In 2008, this cooperation was strengthened through WSA becoming a flagship initiative of GAID, and also through a number of the leaders of the WSA expert panel being proposed and accepted as members of the GAID strategy council. Moreover, one of the highlights of each WSA 2-years phase, Winners’ Celebrations and the Gala, will be held in Monterrey, Mexico Sept. 2-4, 2009, in close cooperation with the GAID Global Forum.