World Bank Tokyo Online Morning Seminar #213 “Digital Progress and Trends Report 2025: Strengthening AI Foundations”

Artificial intelligence is reshaping economies and societies at a remarkable pace, transforming how people learn, work and live. Its ability to unlock access to knowledge, boost productivity and open new markets holds immense potential to accelerate development, creating jobs, new industries and boosting economic transformation. 

This Digital Progress and Trends Report 2025: Strengthening AI Foundations 　offers a comprehensive data-driven snapshot of the global AI landscape. It underscores that while AI opens up opportunities, low- and middle-income countries face steep challenges to adapt or deploy AI effectively and at scale. Yet a promising trend is emerging as many countries are actively adopting “Small AI” solutions. These approaches are more affordable, easier-to-use applications designed to run on everyday devices like mobile phones, and they are already helping extend AI’s reach to help solve today’s most pressing development challenges in areas like agriculture, health, and education.

As developing countries adopt AI, they continue to strengthen the foundations for AI innovation. This report emphasizes the importance of the “four Cs”: connectivity (energy and digital infrastructure), compute (AI chips, data centers, cloud computing), context (data), and competency (skills).  Together, these elements form the bedrock of inclusive and effective AI ecosystems, enabling countries to adopt, adapt, and innovate responsibly.

The World Bank is committed to helping countries harness AI for inclusive and sustainable development. This includes strengthening the foundations for adoption, adaptation, and innovation; advancing data governance; championing regulatory and institutional reforms; and investing in the skills needed to thrive in the digital era. It also means fostering local innovation ecosystems and ensuring that AI solutions are tailored to local realities and priorities. At the same time, policies that promote competition and ensure the equitable distribution of AI’s benefits will be essential to mitigate risks and deliver broad impact.

At this online seminar, Saloni Khurana, Consultant, Digital Innovation Vice Presidency, will present the main points of the report.  This online seminar will be conducted in English, without interpretation into Japanese. 

Speaker: 

Saloni Khurana
Consultant, Digital Innovation Vice Presidency, World Bank 

Event Details

Date / Time
9:00am-10:00am, Thursday, January 15, 2026 (Japan Standard Time)

Format
Online (Webex)

Language
English (without interpretation into Japanese).

Registration
To participate, please register by online form posted on this webpage.  Webex link will be sent to the registered participants. If the registration form does not work, please email to the contact address with your full name, company name, division name and email address.

Contact
Koichi Omori, World Bank Tokyo Office
[email protected]

Related

Past World Bank Tokyo Morning Seminar