The 2026 Partner Awards honor a diverse ecosystem of global integrators and technology providers. Amazon Web Services (AWS) took home the top honor as Partner of the Year, cited for its role in scaling Kong Konnect and AI Gateway across multiple industry segments. Other regional leaders include AHEAD in the Americas, ApiShare in EMEA, and International Integrated Systems, Inc. (IISI) in the APJ region, with the latter noted for its impact on Taiwan’s financial services sector.

Innovation remains a central theme of this year's accolades. Persistent Systems earned the AI Innovation GSI Partner title for integrating Kong into its GenAI Hub, while Wipro was recognized for embedding Kong’s technology directly into its WEGA agentic AI platform. Meanwhile, Cognizant stood out for its commitment to workforce expertise, boasting over 300 Kong-certified associates dedicated to large-scale API modernization. These recognitions underscore a broader shift toward centralized governance and security as enterprises move to integrate agentic AI into their core operations.