A customs data platform built with ITC is among the first winners of a new global award for digital tools that deliver measurable development results.

Jordan’s Trade and Logistics Performance Gateway has been named as one of the first Global Digital Economy Lighthouses, selected from 308 applications across more than 60 countries.

The award was announced on 2 July at the Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing.

The Lighthouse initiative was launched by the International Trade Centre (ITC), the International Telecommunication Union and the Global Digital Economy Cities Alliance. It looks for digital tools that have already proved themselves in their home context and could guide other countries facing similar problems.

Implemented by Jordan Customs and ITC, with a wide network of public and private institutions and support from the German development agencies BMZ and GIZ, the Gateway shows what practical digital transformation looks like in trade.

It is not simply a data platform. It is a reform tool: consolidating data from more than 40 public and private institutions, turning over one billion records into more than 1,500 real-time indicators and 450 interactive dashboards.

That matters because customs authorities and border agencies can only spot bottlenecks that they can see. Now they can see bottlenecks as they occur, prioritize reforms, monitor the impact of interventions, and improve accountability.

For businesses, it points to faster, simpler and more predictable trade procedures that can reduce delays and costs. At the launch of the Gateway in Aqaba, officials said it was a step towards a more integrated digital trade and logistics system, strengthening Aqaba’s role as a regional logistics hub.

Digital transformation is most valuable when it solves concrete problems: moving goods faster, making procedures more transparent, helping government and business coordinate, and giving smaller firms confidence in cross-border trade.

The Jordan Gateway is a strong example of ITC’s role in connecting technical innovation with institutional reform and business competitiveness.

The partnership behind the award reflects the same logic. The Global Digital Economy Cities Alliance, known as DEC40, was launched at the 2025 conference in Beijing. The city's municipal government worked with around 40 cities across Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America. Its aim is to narrow the digital divide by helping cities, enterprises, international organizations and researchers share what works rather than start from scratch.

This year’s conference, under the theme ‘Inclusive Intelligence, Borderless Connectivity,’ brought together governments, businesses, academia and international organizations around digital-friendly development, AI, digital governance, industrial transformation and inclusive services. The Lighthouse programme was one of its first concrete outcomes, with the selected cases poised to be adapted in other countries.

The breadth of the Lighthouse cases also shows how quickly artificial intelligence and advanced digital technologies are moving from experimentation to practical impact. In trade, the Jordan Gateway uses real-time data intelligence to make logistics systems more responsive. In social inclusion, smart prosthetics developed by Hangzhou-based BrainCo – a case nominated by ITC – read muscle and nerve signals and use AI to recognize intended movements, allowing people who have lost limbs to grasp, hold and pinch again.

These examples point to the next frontier of digital development. AI and data technologies are not only about productivity or automation. They can make trade systems more transparent, public services more responsive, cities more inclusive, and assistive technologies more empowering. ITC ensures that these solutions are not isolated showcases, but part of a wider effort to bring these digital practices to work for developing countries, small businesses and underserved communities.

For ITC, the Jordan award is more than a recognition of one successful project. It is a lighthouse for our wider digital agenda: practical, partnership-based, measurable and inclusive.

2 July 2026, Beijing, China – The Jordan Gateway is a strong example of ITC’s role in connecting technical innovation with institutional reform and business competitiveness.

2 July 2026, Beijing, China – In trade, the Jordan Gateway uses real-time data intelligence to make logistics systems more responsive.