Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2025 On 23 June, Schwab Foundation awardees gathered in Beijing to connect with Caitlyn Chen, Vice-President and Head of Sustainable Social Value at Tencent, and a 2025 Schwab Foundation Corporate Social Innovator. Co-hosted by Tencent – a global leader in technology spanning communication, entertainment and enterprise solutions – the event highlighted the company’s commitment to “Tech for Good”. Since 2018, Tencent has focused on harnessing innovation to advance social development, establishing its sustainable social value (SSV) team in 2021 to lead these efforts. Entrepreneurship for a new era The 2025 World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of New Champions convened in Tianjin, China, from 24 to 26 June under the theme “Entrepreneurship for a New Era”. As in previous years, the meeting provided a dynamic platform for exchange across business, government, academia and civil society, with discussions centring on AI, emerging technologies, labour market resilience and cross-sector innovation. The Schwab Foundation, along with the Forum Foundations, curated a programme of sessions dedicated to youth and workforce development, education, social inclusion and AI. Building on the Schwab Foundation’s established thought leadership in AI for impact, it specifically hosted a session titled, “How Can AI Do More Good?”.This session was designed to directly address a critical paradox in the AI landscape: while AI for social good is gaining momentum, current investment levels and adoption models fall significantly short of the technology’s transformative promise, with less than 1% of global AI investment directed towards social impact initiatives. The session explored how companies and social innovators can collaborate more effectively to align AI development with societal needs and opportunities. It featured a diverse panel that brought together perspectives from social entrepreneurship, policy development and regional innovation ecosystems to examine practical pathways for scaling AI’s social impact. The discussion was moderated by François Bonnici, Director, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and Head of Foundations, and featured insights from Njideka U. Harry, Founder and Member of the Executive Board of Youth for Technology Foundation, and Ji Ho Cha, Member of the National Assembly, Republic of Korea. The session invited participants to consider how companies and social innovators might work together to better align AI’s development with societal needs and opportunities, continuing the foundation’s commitment to bridging the gap between technological advancement and social benefit. Image: 25 social innovators from the Schwab Foundation community participated in the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, meeting with Tencent and other Chinese business partners to explore the social innovation ecosystem in China. Credit: World Economic Forum / Pascal Bitz Schwab Foundation Annual Report 2024–2025 47

Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Annual Report 2024 2025