Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | April 19, 2024

ORF America and ORF, in collaboration with the City Hall of Rio de Janeiro, organized a one-day conference on Digital Inclusion: From Ideas to Action. The event brought together policy makers, researchers and practitioners from the government, academia, research institutions, civil society and the private sector to reflect on the challenges and outline strategies to bridge the inclusion gap in the Global South.

The discussions brought out clearly the need to focus on ‘meaningful inclusion’ in the context of the ongoing digital transformation. Even with the rapid diffusion of digital technologies such as cellphone networks and digital payments, gaps in connectivity, financial inclusion and digital skills still exist, both within countries and across much of the Global South. These gaps are strongly correlated with poverty, remoteness and social exclusion, and therefore need to be urgently addressed as a development challenge more broadly.

The speakers emphasized the importance of solutions to promote digital inclusion emerging from the Global South through effective exchange of knowledge and practice. This is especially critical in the context of new technologies such as artificial intelligence. Countries of the Global South are often passive consumers and not proactive participants in innovating and regulating these emerging technologies. With Brazil and India taking the lead within G20, there is an opportunity to shape the future course of digital transformation to one that reflects the priorities and addresses the needs of the Global South, and accelerates progress towards achieving the SDGs.  

Speakers:

• Ramiro Albreu, Principal Researcher, South American Network of Applied Economics (Rede Sur), Argentina

• Juliana Moura Bouno, Manager, Public Policy and Government Affairs, Google, Brazil

• Fabricio de Paula, Founder, AmazoniaLab, Brazil

• Denise Direito, Researcher, Institute of Applied Economic Research, Brazil

• Paula Guedes, Researcher, DataPrivacy.br, Brazil

• Luisa Cruz Lobato, Adjunct Professor and Coordinator of the Digital Humanities Laboratory, PUC-Rio

• Rajeesh Menon, Head of Strategy, Foundation for Interoperability in the Digital Economy (FIDE), India

• Cristina Kiomi Mori, Vice Minister, Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services, Federal Government of Brazil

• Lucas Padilha, Head of International Relations and Cooperation, Rio de Janeiro City Hall

• Lorrayne Porciuncula, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Datasphere Initiative, Brazil/Europe

• Raphaël Pouyé, Lecturer, SciencePo, France