Advancing AI adoption in the Latin America and the Caribbean public sector

 

1 – What is the LAC AI Acelerator?

Organized by the Digital Development Unit for Latin America and the Caribbean (DLCDU), the LAC AI Accelerator is a regional initiative that aims to foster the development and implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) use cases across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries.

The initiative will reduce the hurdles to AI adoption in the region by selecting high-potential use cases through a competitive process and by helping teams validate them systematically. This provides governments with the necessary insights to decide whether to scale the AI solution with long-term financing or discontinue it. Also, the lessons generated from the accelerator will be shared across the ecosystem, facilitating the replication and scaling of AI use cases.

The initiative envisions empowered governments in LAC with the infrastructure and skills required to harness AI to innovate in service delivery, promote a more efficient government, design data driven policy, and, ultimately, create jobs and foster an inclusive digital economy.

The LAC AI Accelerator is the first iteration of what is expected to become an annual challenge led by the DLCDU. Each iteration will be built on learnings from the previous cohorts and will include an increasingly more comprehensive toolbox of support mechanisms for the use cases. 

2 – What is the value of participating in the LAC AI Accelerator?

The accelerator will deliver assistance to the proposing teams, called the Digital Service Teams, throughout the design and testing of the AI solutions.

Assistance will consist of the following:

  • Readiness assessments for each use case: deep-dive evaluations of policy and governance; skills and education; digital public infrastructure, digitalization and data; compute and storage; and, internet bandwidth and last mile access. Other considerations include safeguards and enabling environment.
  • Strategic advisory: expert guidance on selecting the most appropriate AI models and technologies for the use case.
  • Technical mentorship: hands-on companionship throughout the lifecycle of the pilot to troubleshoot issues as they arise and to test the use case. The World Bank Group and its strategic partners will not provide hardware nor software (including computing power, data and sandbox environments), therefore, all hardware and software will have to be put in by the Digital Service Team.
  • Specialized trainings to strengthen skills for AI-solutions deployment and to improve knowledge on AI fundamentals, data governance, and ethical principles to ensure safe implementation. Members of teams that participate in courses will receive a Certificate of Completion from the World Bank Group. Trainings will be tailored for policymakers and technical staff.
  • Networking opportunities. During the World Bank Digital Summit, the selected teams will be able to showcase their use cases, thereby expanding the visibility of their innovations and their opportunities for collaboration. The teams will have access to other types of World Bank Group online and in-person events.

All Digital Service Team representatives will receive a Certificate of Appreciation delivered by the World Bank Group.

3 – What are the direct beneficiaries of the LAC AI Accelerator?

The accelerator is open to teams from public or private sector entities, civil society organizations and Academia, all throughout the LAC region, interested in using AI to improve:

  • Category 2 – Public sector efficiency (e.g., through automated processing, simplification, and case management for Back-office optimization)

  • Category 3 – Policy design and delivery (e.g., through AI-assisted simulation of the potential impact of policy choices, such as subsidies, regulations or social programs, before implementation)

Applicant teams should be composed of cross-functional experts which understand both the technology and the specific development problem they are trying to solve.

It is recommended that proposals target one of the World Bank Group’s five priority sectors: infrastructure, agribusiness, health, manufacturing, and tourism. However, alignment with these sectors is not mandatory, and proposals from any domain that fit within the three eligible categories are welcome.

Participating teams must have the support of a public digital authority (national, state or local level) and will have to submit a commitment letter signed by the head of the relevant agency, secretariat, or ministry. Support may come from a consortium of public authorities within the same country or among different LAC countries; in this case, there will be more than one sponsoring organization and commitment letter.

4 – How will the Digital Service Teams be selected? 

All Digital Service Teams will have to complete the following:

Proposals will be evaluated by the LAC AI Accelerator Governance Committee, composed of a representative from each of the partners and the DLCDU. Selection will be made according to the guidelines available here

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