August 2025
January 2026
Today, 2.6 billion people still lack internet access, especially in rural and underserved areas. An estimated half of the world’s schools don’t have reliable connectivity, limiting their access to opportunities. As technology advances rapidly, the unconnected are at even greater risk of falling behind.
The challenge
In 2025, foraus and Giga will pilot the “Giga Knowledge Spark” collaborating with Swiss university students addressing the challenge: “Incentives towards achieving meaningful connectivity”.
Digital technologies have the potential to connect people, businesses, and schools, boosting inclusive and sustainable growth. While many countries have made significant progress in school connectivity, a number of schools–particularly in rural, unserved, and underserved areas–still lack sufficient or any access to the Internet.
This is commonly due to a combination of social and economic challenges like absence of difficulty to establish the requisite infrastructure, low demand/affordability and low return on capital, that lower the business viability to commercial providers and increase the investment risk.
The Giga Knowledge Spark programme provides students with the chance to research and design innovative policy solutions to make universal connectivity viable and sustainable. It offers a unique platform for networking with relevant stakeholders in international Geneva and co-author a project brief with recommendations for decision-makers.
The Workshop
On 16–17 October, students are invited to a dynamic two-day workshop at the Giga Connectivity Centre where they will collaborate with experts, policymakers, and professionals from International Geneva to exchange creative ideas, and co-create bold, innovative solutions addressing digital conncectivity challenges. Travel and accomodation costs to/in Geneva are covered by the programme.
Afterwards the students will co-author a policy brief and transform the ideas of the workshop into powerful recommendations that spark real-world change. The results will be presented in December 2025 to decision-makers in Geneva.
Interested in joining? You can find the form to apply here! We are looking forward to receiving your application until 02. October 2025.
Picture Copyright: Zenzeleni Community Networks
This project is a collaboration between foraus and Giga.
