For over two decades, eLAC has been driving regional dialogue and cooperation on digital transformation, establishing itself as a key platform for coordinating efforts and sharing experiences.
For more than twenty years, the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC) has served as the region's leading platform for dialogue and cooperation on digital transformation. Over the years, it has become an essential space where countries align their efforts, share experiences, and work toward the strategic use of digital technologies to advance competitiveness, innovation, and sustainable development.
The pace of technological change has accelerated dramatically in recent decades. Digital technologies are fundamentally reshaping how we produce, work, communicate, and organize our economies. More recently, the rapid rise of artificial intelligence has ushered in a new phase of this transformation, expanding the possibilities for automation, data analysis, and new business models. Latin America and the Caribbean are very much part of this shift, and the moment presents a strategic opening: to harness digitalization and the particular promise of artificial intelligence to tackle some of the structural challenges that have long held the region back.
Against this backdrop, regional cooperation has never been more important. eLAC has established itself as the primary space where countries across the region build a shared vision for leveraging digital technologies in service of development. Through successive cycles of government-agreed regional agendas, eLAC sets common priorities, fosters the exchange of experiences, and drives cooperative initiatives designed to accelerate the region's digital transformation.
The current agenda, eLAC2026, reflects how Latin America and the Caribbean's digital priorities have evolved. Organized around enabling pillars and strategic areas including productive digital transformation, digital well-being, digitalization of the State, and the development of emerging technologies — the Agenda places growing emphasis on artificial intelligence, data governance, and digital resilience. In doing so, eLAC not only guides countries' digital policies, but also helps shape a coordinated regional response to the opportunities and challenges of the digital economy.
Tools for Advancing Regional Digital Cooperation
To translate these policy directions into concrete action, eLAC draws on three complementary instruments that advance experimentation, knowledge generation, and capacity-building simultaneously.
The Digital Transformation Laboratory functions as a collaborative space where countries can design and test new digital policy solutions. The Laboratory has produced a range of tools to support public sector decision-making and innovation, including the Productive Digital Transformation Simulator, which allows policymakers to explore digitalization scenarios across different economic sectors; methodologies for regulatory and public policy sandboxes, drawing on the RESMA experience; and practical guides for the design and implementation of artificial intelligence projects in the public sector, aimed at facilitating responsible adoption of these technologies.
The Digital Transformation School has become a key venue for training and capacity-building among public officials across the region. In recent years, the School has expanded its reach with tailored programs for different subregions. In 2026, new editions are planned for Latin America and the Caribbean, to be held in Montevideo, Uruguay, and Jamaica respectively, strengthening regional cooperation and the exchange of knowledge on digital policy.
The Digital Development Observatory broadens the evidence base on digitalization trends across the region. Through comparable indicators and specialized studies, it provides up-to-date information on areas such as technology adoption, infrastructure deployment, and the growth of the digital economy, supporting evidence-based policymaking.
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Regional Digital Cooperation
The rapid advance of artificial intelligence is redefining the scope of digital transformation worldwide. AI applications are beginning to permeate virtually every sector of the economy and the State, opening significant opportunities to boost productivity, improving public service delivery, and spur innovation. At the same time, this new technological cycle raises pressing challenges around regulation, data governance, capacity development, and institutional adaptation.
For Latin America and the Caribbean, meeting these challenges will require more than strong national policies, it will demand higher levels of regional coordination and cooperation. The rapid evolution of AI is driving global debates on standards, governance principles, regulatory frameworks, and international cooperation mechanisms. It is therefore critical that the region develops common positions, exchanges experiences, and amplifies its voice in these global conversations.
In this new landscape, eLAC provides a regional platform from which countries can coordinate efforts, share lessons learned, and develop shared approaches to the challenges of the digital economy. More than ever, this space enables countries to align their digital transformation agendas, deepen cooperation, and project a coherent regional perspective into international debates on artificial intelligence and digital governance.
As artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies continue to reshape economies and societies, strengthening regional cooperation mechanisms will be essential if Latin America and the Caribbean is to fully seize the opportunities of digital transformation, narrowing divides and advancing a more inclusive, productive, and sustainable path to development.
