Digital Public Infrastructure will be the next bound of connectivity – Global DPI Summit

During the Covid-19 pandemic, countries that had set up robust digital identity and payment systems were able to transfer benefits to three times more beneficiaries than those which lacked these foundational systems, said the World Bank's Vice President for Digital Transformation, Sangbu Kim, during the opening panel of the Global DPI Summit held in Cairo earlier this month. 

This is one reason why the World Bank will soon be launching a global DPI programme, he said. The programme will supplement existing initiatives such as the Identification for Development Programme (ID4D) and Government-to-Person payments programme (G2Px), which provide financial and technical support to countries to build trusted digital identity and payments systems. 

A key theme of the inaugural Global DPI Summit, which saw more than 700 DPI experts from 100 countries gather, was that the next connectivity challenge for global innovators to solve will be digital public infrastructure (DPI). 

At the summit, leaders spoke about the emerging trends in DPI, from its relevance to climate action to the role of the private sector in enabling DPI ecosystems. 

“Connectivity itself, or just having people connect with the global Internet, is not enough,” said International Telecommunication Union’s Deputy Secretary General, Tomas Lamanauskas in the official opening panel discussion. Rather, DPI could soon serve as the glue holding the global community together, enabling cross-border payments, better provision of services, and economic development. 

This perspective was shared by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, Amandeep Singh Gill, who said, “We have to move from the connectivity paradigm to a digital public infrastructure paradigm.” During the panel, Gill spoke about the need to build partnerships, ensure that DPI initiatives are inclusive, and that leaders actively mitigate potential risks that may come with such systems. 

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Solving population-scale challenges 

“It’s not the same as connectivity, but it’s a way of thinking about population scale infrastructure which allows you to combine public rails with private innovation – in other words, a societal approach to technology,” said Nandan Nilekani in the keynote which followed the panel. 

Nilekani is the former chairman of India’s Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), and oversaw the introduction of India’s digital identity programme, Aadhaar, which was also the world’s largest digital identity project. 

Together with India’s digital payments programme, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Aadhaar facilitated the distribution of US$5 billion in cash benefits to citizens in need during the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic according to the World Economic Forum. 

During Nilekani’s speech at the summit, he spoke about the need to build “horizontal layers of capability” to enable participation and financial inclusion. 

“DPI… essentially enables people to create a ladder of aspirations. Somebody can get an ID, they can use that to create a bank account… they can start a small business. That small business has digital footprints. They can roll those footprints into getting access to credit.” 
 
“So, there’s actually a very thoughtful approach here of allowing everyone to participate.”  

According to the Asian Development Bank, India saw the number of bank accounts increase from 400 million in 2014 to 1.4 billion in 2023 as a result of UPI and Aadhaar.

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Citizens at the centre 

Another recurring theme at the event was the importance of building DPI systems that centre citizens’ needs and safeguard individual interests. 

This point was raised during a keynote session by the Co-Chair at the Centre of Digital Public Infrastructure, Pramod Varma, on the second day of the summit, where he spoke about a vision of DPI with citizens at the centre, rather than a “system-centric” view. 

“When we digitised, we forgot to really ask the fundamental question: how can users gain the control back?” he said. Rather than relying on government agencies to be custodians of various data assets, the future of DPI will be systems that put the ownership of individual data – in the form of verifiable credentials – in the hands of individual citizens. 

Other speakers similarly spoke about the need to meet citizen needs and to build safe DPI that serves user interests. 

“When we look at [Estonia]’s journey, it has actually not been about having the most digital foundation. It has not been about technology… It has been about building an open, inclusive vision for the society where we all can benefit from,” said Estonia’s Ambassador at Large for Digital Affairs, Nele Leosk, in the opening panel.  

Estonia developed the open-source data exchange platform, X-Road, which is now deployed in over 20 countries and is one of the most widely adopted DPI platforms. 

September also saw the publication of the Universal DPI Safeguards Framework, a set of actionable guidelines for implementing safe and inclusive DPI systems. 

Reaching a global consensus

The summit comes off the back of a series of milestones that signal the increasing global consensus around the need to build interoperable DPI systems that support inclusion and can deliver economic growth.  

“We must continue to build this momentum shaping global consensus around the DPI approach. For us, that approach is not about technology, it’s about communities of innovation in the public sector. 
 
“Together, it ultimately serves to empower individuals, protect their rights, and create a digital future that is safe, inclusive and sustainable,” said UNDP’s Chief Digital Officer, Robert Opp, in a recorded message at the opening panel. 

In September, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Global Digital Compact, an international agreement on the importance of digital technology and AI governance for sustainable development.  

The Compact specifically highlighted the role of safe, user-centred, and inclusive DPI in delivering services and commits the UN to increasing investment in responsible DPI. 

The United Nations’ 50-in-5 initiative, which aims to help 50 countries design, launch, and scale DPI building blocks by 2028, also announced that it has onboarded 22 countries as of September, with new members including Brazil, Cambodia, France, Nigeria, Ukraine, and Uruguay.