Global CIO Professional IT Community Announces the Winners of the International Competition "Project of the Year – 2025"
On January 30, 2026, the winners of the international 'Project of the Year' contest were announced during the online Awards Ceremony. The contest provides IT leaders from around the world with a unique opportunity to showcase their achievements and gain recognition from their peers. It was organized by the international professional IT community Global CIO.
155 projects from 35 countries were submitted, with 124 outstanding projects advancing to the voting stage. 'Project of the Year 2025' received unprecedented attention from the international IT community, with over 750 senior IT executives participating in the voting and discussions.
The Head of the Organizing Committee, Alisa Plotnikova, emphasized the global significance of the Project of the Year: "The geography of our community and the contest continues to grow every year. Today, Global CIO brings together more than 10,000 IT leaders from 125 countries, and Project of the Year has become a global platform for sharing experience and outstanding cases.Winning the competition is important but we also want to highlight how valuable each participant’s contribution is to our community. All the cases will remain part of the Global CIO knowledge base and will be featured on our portal and social media throughout the year, serving as best practice examples and a source of inspiration for IT leaders around the world".
Contest'25 includes winners from the USA, India, South Africa, Singapore, Turkey, Russia, Brazil, Pakistan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Thailand, Argentina, as well as global corporations operating across multiple regions.
Amina Tarchokova, Global CIO Business Developer, noted: "This year marked a significant milestone in AI adoption. We saw incredible AI-driven initiatives ranging from large-scale communications automation platforms to deeply meaningful, socially-minded projects like using drones to deliver critical medicine to pilgrims during the Hajj. It's inspiring to witness how technology is being leveraged both for massive enterprise transformation and for solving real human needs. The competition also highlighted strong focus on comprehensive digital transformation, with many companies submitting entire portfolios of projects across different categories".
There are plenty of outstanding projects from companies such as LTIMindtree, Ooredoo Group, HCL Technologies, Reckitt Benckiser Group, PayInc, Nanyang Technological University, VTB Bank, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, BankDhofar, ONYX Hospitality Group, OneOrder Innovation, TBC Uzbekistan, U&I Group, NUPCO, Riyadh First Health Cluster and many others among the winners of the 'Project of the Year 2025' competition.
The full list of winners of "Project of the Year – 2025" is published in the community's "Hall of Fame" section: https://globalcio.com/projectoftheyear/hall-of-fame/
Besides the top-voted projects, the Global CIO community presented several special awards. Three especially proactive participants were granted annual membership in the exclusive IT Leaders Club: Ramesh Murugesan (Head of IT Governance & Advisory at Saudi Mining Company), Mikhail Gromov (CTO at BirBank), and Rukiye Aydın Türktaş (Head of Information Technology Department at Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality).
During the ceremony many winners delivered speeches to briefly share insights about their projects, thank their teams, and discuss their vision for future transformations.
Rukiye Aydın Türktaş, Head of Information Technology Department at Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, expressed her gratitude for the international recognition: "Receiving these awards is a clear indication that our vision and efforts have been recognized at an international level. Our GIS-based digital urban plan project was developed in-house through close collaboration between our Information Technology and Urban Planning Development Department".
Benjamin Lim, Divisional Head, NTU Shared Services, Information Technology at Nanyang Technological University, emphasized that technology should serve a higher purpose and empower future generations. The award validates that the projects he and his team implement create such value.
Swapnil Deshpande, Global Head of Enterprise Systems at LTIMindtree, highlighted the passion and technical excellence of the teams driving innovation. The company submitted a record 11 case studies to the competition, demonstrating different areas of digital transformation across the global corporation.
Applications for the next "Project of the Year" competition will open in September 2026. The Organizing Committee will offer early consultations for participants who want to understand the competition requirements and prepare strong submissions.
Press Contact: project@globalcio.com