In August this year, Mrs Graça Machel joined global innovators and leaders at Rio Innovation Week 2025 in Brazil, at Pier Mauá in Rio de Janeiro. She called for a more compassionate and equitable future, one where technological breakthrough serve the collective good, not a privileged few.

In a conversation with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr Denis Mukwege, moderated by GloboNews journalist Aline Midlej, Mrs Machel asked for a rethink of the role of innovation: not simply as technological advancement, but as an engine for dignity, equality and shared prosperity. Josina Machel, Founder of the Kuhluka Movement and Board Member of the Graça Machel Trust, closed the session with a strong appeal to end sexual and gender-based violence.

At a time of fast-moving change, Rio Innovation Week 2025 was a reminder that Ubuntu is not a philosophy of the past but a blueprint for the future. "We are interconnected and have one common destiny. Our future must be centred around Ubuntu and the philosophy that I am because you are," Mrs Machel said.

Mrs Machel put forward a strong reminder that technology must deepen our humanity, not erode it: "Technology must be used to advance us as a human race, to make each one of us more equal, more human, more healthy, and not replace us or create further inequity or marginalisation." In a moment when the world is racing to keep up with innovation, her message was clear: progress must be collective, rooted in human dignity, solidarity and shared responsibility.