Persons in charge of the presentations:
María Celina Conte, Acting Director, Summits of the Americas Secretariat, OAS
Edward Hartwig, Deputy Administrator, United States Digital Service (USDS)
Barbara Ubaldi, Digital Government and Open Data Lead, Directorate for Public Governance, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Carol Roach, Director a.i., Department of Transformation and Digitization, Office of the Prime Minister, Government of the Bahamas
Miguel Porrua, Coordinator of the Data and Digital Government Cluster, Institutions for Development Sector, Institutional Capacity of the State Division, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Saiph Savage, Director of the Civic Innovation Lab, West Virginia University
Mike Mora, Specialist, OAS Department for Effective Public Management
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The rapid evolution of information and communication technologies (ICT) has triggered an accelerated appropriation by citizens and the public and private sectors in the last 30 years. Its effects contribute to efficiency and the best provision of services; however, its appropriation by the state apparatus does not seem to perceive the same benefits in terms of generating greater transparency in public management. In light of the latest report by the international transparency organization in 2020 and its index of the perception of corruption in the world, the fight against corruption in Latin America shows no major changes since 2012.
As the evolution of ICT continues, new technologies or emerging technologies appear that promise to further transform the way we live and our societies, immersing ourselves in the 4th industrial revolution, which deals with the convergence of digital, physical and biological. These technologies have started to be adopted in the region, and governments are certainly facing this challenge. Artificial intelligence (AI) in the cloud, the blockchain; quantum computing, and the internet of things (IoT), are some of these technologies. In light of this immersion, the experts invited to this dialogue will speak about some questions such as:
- Do new technologies have a role in preventing and fighting corruption?
- What use is it being given to these technologies?
- What are the latent risks of using these technologies?
- Is the region ready for these technologies? What challenges does the region face?
This webinar falls under the cooperation initiatives being pursued by the Summits of the Americas Secretariat within the framework of execution of the Mechanism for Follow-up and Implementation of the Lima Commitment, with the participating states, Joint Summit Working Group (JSWG) entities, and civil society and social actors. In such context, this seminar seeks to intensify the sharing of experiences and knowledge from the perspective of governments and civil society regarding the use of open data to prevent and fight corruption, as both a cause and effect of the democratization of information, particularly in terms of the need to incorporate open data into actions to respond to emergencies, such as the current global health crisis brought about by COVID-19.