As digitization increases, vast amounts of data will be collected, analyzed and stored. According to Forbes, the world produces more than 2.5 trillion bytes of data every day. The corresponding challenge is to create the platforms to support these volumes of data.
In the case of smart cities, platforms help manage the collection and processing of data from multiple sources to provide information on topics of interest such as weather conditions, events, parking, or transportation, both for analysis, and decision making.
Several Latin American countries have unveiled new digital development agendas during 2021 for the coming years.
The most recent case was Mexico, which three years after the start of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s government, created a framework for its digital strategy.
Read more: The digital strategies of Latin American governments
alk to any taxi driver, student or small businessman from Mexico down to Argentina, and they’ll likely make one thing clear: Latin America has a corruption problem. The solution, however, may lie less in the legislatures of Bogotá, Brasília and Buenos Aires and more in the tech incubators of Silicon Valley, São Paulo, Medellín and Guadalajara.
In the past couple of years, a wave of anti-establishment candidates running — and winning — on vague platforms of combatting graft has shown just how salient the issue of corruption is in Latin America. Indeed, it is likely the region’s greatest ill, actively working against prosperity and progress. It’s not a new phenomenon, but one that’s now risen to the top of the agenda — and for good reason.
Read more: Latin America needs more tech in government to counter graft
All Latin American countries should consider five key elements for their respective digital transformation agendas, according to an expert.
Countries should focus on a strong institution, a set of concrete objectives, financial resources, technology tools, and human talent, Miguel Porrúa, e-government specialist and digital cluster coordinator at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), told BNamericas.
Read more: The 5 elements Latin American digital agendas should contain
Overcoming state dependence may be crucial for digital innovations to transform democracy by engaging more citizens in the political process.
Latin America has always been a region of deep contradictions, and this is especially true when one considers its politics and democracy. Despite its authoritarian past that continues to show through in some political practices and institutions, the region has experimented with democracy in very innovative ways in recent years. Likewise, whereas the region still suffers from deep social inequality and is not yet free from poverty and hunger, Latin America is the world’s third largest regional online market and its internet penetration rate is above the world’s average, half of which is due to intense smartphone usage.