January 21, 2026 | Davos, Switzerland
At the Tech Diplomacy Global Institute‘s gathering in Davos, two parallel conversations converged on a single truth: the future of technology governance depends not just on what we build, but on who gets to shape it, govern it, and benefit from it.
Beyond Titles: Why Capability Matters More Than Ever
“Tech diplomacy fails without structure, skills, and coordination,” stated Ayumi Moore Aoki, TDGI’s Founder and President, opening the second session of the day. “Titles and mandates alone are insufficient. Institutions need new operating models.”
This insight framed a critical dialogue about capability-building in the digital age. As Manuel Schiappa Pietra, President & CEO of FreeBalance and TDGI Supervisory Board Member, emphasized in his keynote “Tech Diplomacy as Critical Infrastructure,” capability means more than just appointing officials with tech-focused titles. It requires hybrid expertise, institutional mandates, multistakeholder engagement mechanics, and international coordination and interoperability.
The panel that followed—featuring Dr. Nele Leosk from the European Commission, Titi Akinsanmi (TDGI Supervisory Board), and Casper Klynge from Zscaler—explored what distinguishes countries that shape norms from those that follow them. The answer wasn’t resources alone, but the ability to coordinate across foreign affairs, regulators, and industry while building capabilities that take years to develop.
The AI Power Question: Who Decides?
Running in parallel, a Women in Tech session titled “The AI Power Shift: Who Leads, Who Decides and Who Wins” tackled these capability questions from a different but equally critical angle.
Janna Salokangas, Co-Founder & CEO of Mia AI, and Dr. Anino Emuwa, Founder of 100 Davos Women, led a conversation that cut through the noise about AI innovation to address fundamental questions of leadership, governance, and inclusion.
“Many organizations say they are adopting AI, but very few are actually becoming AI capable,” Salokangas noted. “There’s a crucial difference between implementation and transformation.”
Dr. Emuwa, drawing from her work in boardrooms across continents, identified a persistent misunderstanding among decision makers: “There’s a tendency to see AI as purely technical, when it’s fundamentally about power—how decisions get made, who has agency, and whose perspectives shape the systems we’re building.”
The Intersection: Diplomacy, Technology, and Inclusion
What emerged across both sessions was a recognition that tech diplomacy and inclusive AI leadership are two sides of the same coin. Both require:
1. Moving Beyond Symbolism to Structure
Just as appointing Tech Ambassadors without institutional support and clear mandates creates only symbolic change, declaring commitment to AI diversity without building inclusive decision-making structures yields limited results.
H.E. Anne Marie Engtoft Meldgaard, Denmark’s Tech Ambassador, reflected on lessons from pioneering the role since 2017: “What governments underestimate is that this work requires systemic change, not just new positions. You need coordination mechanisms, budget authority, and the ability to convene across traditionally siloed domains.”
Similarly, the WIT session emphasized that AI capability isn’t just about technical skills—it’s about ensuring diverse leadership voices shape strategy, governance, and deployment.
2. Recognizing Capability Gaps Before They Become Power Gaps
The tech diplomacy panel identified a stark reality: capabilities take the longest to build are often the ones that determine who has influence. Countries that invested early in digital policy expertise, cross-sectoral coordination, and international standard-setting now shape global norms. Those that delayed are playing catch-up.
The same pattern emerged in the AI leadership discussion. Organizations that are building AI capability now—including governance frameworks, ethical oversight, and diverse technical teams—will have fundamentally different power dynamics than those treating AI as simply another IT project.
“AI will either widen or shrink existing leadership gaps,” noted Dr. Emuwa. “The determining factor is whether organizations are intentional about building inclusive capability or simply automating existing power structures.”
3. Understanding That Inaction Has Consequences
Both sessions confronted what happens when we fail to act. In tech diplomacy, Manuel Schiappa Pietra outlined the economic cost of fragmented governance: reduced public value, compromised digital infrastructure, eroded service delivery, and diminished trust.
In AI leadership, the consequences are equally clear. As Salokangas pointed out, “The decisions leaders are postponing today about AI governance, about whose expertise counts, about how power is distributed in AI-enabled organizations—these aren’t decisions that will get easier with time. The window for shaping these systems is now.”
From Davos to Action: TDGI’s 2026 Agenda
The convergence of these themes reflects TDGI’s evolved mission: not just to advocate for tech diplomacy, but to build the machinery that makes it work—and to ensure that machinery is inclusive, capable, and globally coordinated.
Following the Samarkand Declaration in November 2025, which called on nation-states to formally appoint Tech Ambassadors, TDGI is now launching concrete capability-building mechanisms:
The Tech Ambassador Global Executive Program will equip the next generation of tech diplomacy leaders with the hybrid skills required—combining diplomatic acumen, technological fluency, and strategic coordination capabilities. Notably, the program is being designed with explicit attention to diverse participation and inclusive leadership models.
A comprehensive diagnostic report provides comparative analysis of current global tech diplomacy capabilities, offering clear recommendations for countries at different stages of development.
The upcoming year includes strategic convenings that bridge diplomacy, technology, and inclusion:
- February: Collaboration launch at the World Government Summit in Dubai on AI adoption and impact
- April: TDGI Symposium in Cape Town, building regional capacity and collaboration
- May: Silicon Valley Connect in San Francisco, engaging the technology ecosystem
- July: Annual Tech Diplomacy Forum at UNESCO HQ in Paris
One Leadership Question, Many Dimensions
As Dr. Tawfik Jelassi, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General and Chair of TDGI’s Supervisory Board, emphasized in his closing remarks, we face not a future risk but a current structural reality. Technology shapes power, prosperity, and resilience. Governance remains fragmented. And the question of who leads—who decides, who shapes, who benefits—matters profoundly.
The Davos conversations made clear that answering this question requires simultaneous action on multiple fronts:
Building national and institutional tech diplomacy capabilities
Ensuring diverse voices shape AI governance and deployment
Creating coordination mechanisms that work across borders, sectors, and traditional hierarchies
Moving from symbolic commitments to structural change
“Tech Diplomacy is not about representation alone,” Aoki concluded. “It is about orchestration. Not about moving faster individually, but about moving forward together.”
The same principle applies to inclusion in AI leadership. It’s not about adding diverse voices to existing structures, but about building new structures where diverse perspectives fundamentally shape how power, capability, and opportunity are distributed.
A Call to Collaborative Leadership
Both sessions ended with concrete calls to action:
For tech diplomacy leaders: Engage with TDGI to build capabilities, test coordination models, and shape global governance frameworks.
For AI leaders: Make the governance decisions you’re postponing. Build inclusive capability now. Recognize that AI is a leadership question before it’s a technology question.
For all participants: Understand that the future of technology governance—whether through formal diplomacy or corporate leadership—depends on treating capability-building and inclusion not as secondary priorities, but as core infrastructure for the digital age.
The Davos gathering demonstrated that these aren’t parallel conversations—they’re integrated dimensions of the same fundamental challenge: ensuring that as technology reshapes power, we’re intentional about who holds it, who shapes it, and who benefits from it.
TDGI continues to convene leaders, build capabilities, and shape the future of tech diplomacy globally. For information on upcoming programs, research, and partnership opportunities, visit https://tdgi.org.