NEW YORK – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) today presented ConectaLAC, a pioneering digital analytics platform that will help governments and investors identify opportunities and design cost-effective projects to close digital connectivity gaps in Latin America and the Caribbean.

IDB President Ilan Goldfajn presented the platform at SDG Digital, a global event during the United Nations SDG Acceleration Day convened by the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres with support from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as the sponsoring agencies. 

ConectaLAC allows policymakers and investors to map relevant populations, institutions, and productive sectors lacking access to connectivity at a national and regional level across 26 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. This innovative platform empowers users with tools to design connectivity projects that draw on unique layers of data (geography, infrastructure, population density and others) for increased impact and cost-effectiveness.

“ConectaLAC provides high-quality information that enables countries to accelerate their efforts to close digital gaps. The platform better measures the socioeconomic impact of projects so they can prioritize the ones that are most impactful for development,’’ said President Goldfajn. “This data-driven solution is an important contribution to the SDG Acceleration Agenda, as it helps to overcome lack of good information as a key barrier for greater resource mobilization.”

Digital public infrastructure is considered an accelerator of sustainable development goals by the G20 Leaders Declaration and a high priority by the U.N. Secretary-General. About 2.6 billion people, or 33% of the world population, have limited or no access to the Internet, according to the newly published SDG Digital Acceleration Agenda, a joint report by ITU, the IDB and UNDP. To meet the sustainable development goals, countries need an estimated $400 billion to be able to close this gap, as outlined in the report.

ConectaLAC also features a technical and visualization tool that estimates the impacts associated with different connectivity projects, which facilitates engagement with civil society and other stakeholders during project design and implementation.

ConectaLAC is expected to be available to the public by the end of the year, offering an important resource to drive Latin America and the Caribbean towards a more digitally connected region.