On July 24th, CEBRI hosted the event "Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): Driving Digital Transformation Responsibly," an initiative by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in partnership with the City of Rio de Janeiro. The goal was to discuss the relevance of inclusive and efficient digital infrastructure for the public good, addressing significant topics related to the debate on digital transformation at an international level.
The concept of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) refers to systems, networks, and digital platforms developed and managed by the public sector to provide essential services to the population. These systems impact the transformation of public services, ensuring the availability of digital information in an accessible and efficient manner.
Access to digital transformations is still not a reality that serves the whole society. "For some, digital is a barrier. For others, it is a portal. This access needs to be equitable and fair. We must be able to govern at the margins of the system," says Ashta Kapoor, Co-Founder of the Aapti Institute and former Coordinator of T20 India. She also emphasizes the importance of promoting this agenda within the context of the G20 as a priority, highlighting convergences between themes of Brazil's presidency in the group in 2024 and India's presidency in 2023.
For Liam Maxwell, Director of Government Transformation at Amazon Web Services (AWS), DPIs and the formulation of data protection legislation can change society. "Digital transformation promotes a shift in the relationship between the citizen and the State. Responsibilities regarding digital platforms empower people in the economic system and foster growth and change on a global scale," he emphasizes.
The event featured an institutional opening by CEBRI's President, Julia Dias Leite, and two thematic panels with the participation of Liam and Ashta, along with talks by Helen Margetts, Professor of Internet and Society at the University of Oxford; Armando J. Manzueta Peña, Director of Government Digital Transformation in the Dominican Republic; Celina Mendes de Almeida Bottino, Project Director at the Institute of Technology and Society (ITS Rio); Lorrayne Porciuncula, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Datasphere Initiative; Vanessa Almeida, Digital Innovation Manager at BNDES; Beatriz Vasconcellos, Manager of Programs for Innovation in the Public Sector at UCL; and Giula Pagliarini Lanzuolo, Policy Fellow at UCL.
The debate also included a workshop on DPIs in Brazil, featuring Fabro Steibel, Executive Director at ITS-Rio; Henrique de Vilhena Portella Dolabella, Director of Rural Environmental Registry at the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services; and Kleber Canuto, Director of Research and Analytics at Linked Data.
