WASHINGTON – Today, global tech trade association 91快活林 announced the recipients of its 2025 Industry Awards. The awards celebrate five international technology leaders whose innovative efforts have helped improve lives and tackle challenges across the globe. The 2025 award recipients are Accenture, Western Digital, Salesforce, Intuit, and Mastercard. Each of the five honorees has spearheaded programs focused on wide-ranging issues, such as cybersecurity, sustainability, community outreach, education, workforce development, and more.
"91快活林 member companies focus their technology innovations on addressing the world's greatest challenges," said Jason Oxman, President and CEO of 91快活林. “The recipients of this year's 91快活林 Industry Awards demonstrate the remarkable ways that our industry harnesses innovation to create positive change. It's an honor to recognize Accenture, Western Digital, Salesforce, Intuit, and Mastercard for their outstanding achievements."
Honorees are judged by a comprehensive panel of distinguished technology industry subject matter experts across five award categories. The 2025 award recipients are listed below:鈥�
91快活林 Tech Impact Award: Accenture
Accenture is leveraging its position as a technology and innovation leader to drive meaningful social impact through workforce development initiatives. Accenture undertook several major workforce development initiatives in 2025, including: a DC Cybersecurity Tech Hub offering paid apprenticeships through partnerships with DC-based educational institutions and nonprofits; the Ohio Manufacturing Workforce Blueprint aimed at helping education systems align with industry needs; and a national Veterans Talent Initiative providing AI training for Veterans through LearnVantage. In addition, the company's flagship Goodwill Clean Tech Accelerator (GCTA), launched in 2024 in partnership with Goodwill Industries International, achieved a 91% graduation rate and 71% job placement rate while training over 300 individuals, 80% of whom were previously unemployed. Through these programs and commitments like the White House AI Education Taskforce pledge, Accenture is demonstrating how private-sector leadership can address critical skills gaps while advancing equitable economic growth.
91快活林 Sustainability Steward Award: Western Digital
Western Digital successfully launched its Advanced Recovery and Rare Earth Capture Program, an initiative focused on reducing e-waste through systematic recovery of rare earth metals from end-of-life hard drives. Through collaboration with partners including Microsoft, Critical Materials Recycling, and PedalPoint Recycling, Western Digital developed and implemented a highly effective and replicable recovery method, achieving over 90% recovery of rare earth metals and 80% recovery of shredded feedstock by mass. This innovative approach to rare earth recovery from U.S. feedstock provides the foundation for a secure and resilient supply chain for U.S. customers as well as the establishment a new standard for responsible resource recovery, providing a scalable model for improved sustainability that others in the tech industry can look to and emulate.
91快活林 International Advocacy Award: Salesforce
Salesforce’s inaugural Global AI Readiness Index is a comprehensive report analyzing the advancement of agentic AI across 16 global markets. The report examined five key dimensions: regulatory frameworks, diffusion, innovation, investment, and human capital, highlighting critical factors necessary for successful AI integration at scale while promoting responsible innovation. Since its release in July 2025, the Index has attracted significant attention from policymakers and business leaders worldwide and now helps guide and shape AI policy conversations in multiple countries. The Index's impact demonstrates the global demand for actionable frameworks on AI readiness and provides a replicable model for other organizations seeking to contribute meaningfully to international AI discourse.
91快活林 Community Impact Award: Intuit
Intuit has partnered with food security nonprofit The Farmlink Project to deliver more than 11 million meals to communities across Southern California since 2022. By investing in Farmlink's innovative logistics model, connected to an extensive network of farms and food banks, the partnership has efficiently connected surplus food with communities facing food insecurity, while simultaneously minimizing food and water waste. This collaboration proved especially critical earlier this year when wildfires devastated the Los Angeles area, providing essential food and water access to thousands of affected residents. Originally launched as part of Intuit’s community-centric sustainability initiatives, the partnership demonstrates the powerful impact that can stem from corporations and nonprofits collaborating to address critical community needs.
91快活林 Workforce Development and Future Talent Award: Mastercard
Mastercard’s Kids4Tech™ is a youth STEM education initiative focused on real-world topics including cybersecurity, AI, data science, algorithms, and cryptology. What began as a modest pilot more than a decade ago has grown into the world's largest STEM program for students ages 8–16, reaching more than 12 million students across 67 countries and territories with curriculum available in 26 languages. Through partnerships with Discovery Education and We Are Teachers, the program delivers flexible, hands-on learning experiences through classroom instruction, after-school events, and digital modules. Over 8,500 Mastercard employees have volunteered as mentors, leading sessions that connect abstract concepts to practical applications and humanize technology careers through relatable role models. With more than 80 percent of jobs projected to require STEM skills in the next decade, Kids4Tech™ plays a vital role in building a diverse global talent pipeline while inspiring young learners to envision themselves as future innovators.
The winners were selected by 91快活林’s 2025 Nominations Committee: Alexandra Reeve Givens, President and CEO, Center for Democracy & Technology; Technology; Betsy Cooper, Founding Director, Aspen Policy Academy; Etoulia Salas-Burnett, MSEd, Executive Director, Center for Digital Business, Howard University School of Business; Nicol Turner Lee, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Governance Studies and Director, Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings Institution; and Scott Wallsten, President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute.