Fifteen years after the adoption of the first Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean, the region is facing a new world. Some of the expectations of that time have been fulfilled, but others have not. Growth in digital technologies has been exponential and they are now used worldwide, but this has been accompanied by negative social repercussions. The region has yet to strike the right balance between the benefits and costs of digitization in a more adverse global situation, exacerbated by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
This document contributes to discussion on the use and deployment of digital technologies for more inclusive and sustainable development and to related actions. It is divided into four chapters that analyse the potential effects of digital disruption, the impact on well-being and equality, the costs of universalizing Internet access, the relationship between digitization and productivity, the impact of digitization on various production chains, and the need for specific policies to recover from the effects of the pandemic with a transformation of production. The report also examines the state of digital agendas in the region, particularly in terms of data management, and concludes with some recommendations for strengthening regional cooperation and a process leading to the formation of a regional digital market.