Google investing $5M into LatAM DPI projects through Co-Develop

Google has pledged $5 million in support for Latin American governments adopting digital public infrastructure (DPI), including digital IDs and payment systems. The tech giant cited the example of IdLAC, a digital identity broker that connects digital identity providers with public or private services that need to verify users’ identities.

The announcement was made during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. The funding will go through Co-Develop, a nonprofit fund focused on investing in DPI projects in low- and middle-income countries, and is part of a border cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

First initiated four years ago, IdLAC allows citizens across Latin America and the Caribbean to conduct digital public service transactions in another country using their national digital identity. The service acts as a broker for interoperable digital ID exchange under the Mercosur Digital Citizen initiative, also known as the LAC Digital Citizen or “Regional Digital Citizen.”

“This technology is designed to be easily reused, saving nations from building expensive, custom software from scratch,” says Google. “A citizen from Brazil, for instance, can use their credentials in Colombia or Argentina to seamlessly manage entry requirements, verify vaccine coverage, or fulfill medical prescriptions while traveling.”

The system was developed by 12 countries in the region through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) with support from the World Bank, Co-Develop, the Organization of American States (OAS), and Red GEALC, a network of e-government authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

IdLAC was launched in October 2025 and piloted for immigration processes for foreign visitors to Chile using Chile’s digital identity system ClaveÚnica (Unique Key).

“It is estimated that next year most Latin American countries will be able to integrate into this regional digital hub, which could make the region one of the most digitally integrated in the world,” José Inostroza, head of the Chilean Ministry of Finance’s Digital Government Secretariat, said at a presentation of the pilot in November.

The following month, Uruguay and Brazil announced that cross-border digital identification through IdLAC will be available for foreign trade procedures. Brazilian citizens who have obtained gold-level digital identification through the national platform Gov.br will be able to access services on Uruguay’s Foreign Trade Single Window (Ventanilla Única de Comercio Exterior – VUCE).

The software was developed by Uruguayian company Pixys. Among the countries included in development are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

As part of its partnership with the IDB, Google also plans to offer free online AI training for government officials in the region. In addition, the tech firm has released a report on the impact of AI on Latin American economies.

Co-Develop joined the Digital Public Goods Alliance in January to collaborate on the push for safe and inclusive DPI around the world.

Brazil a regional leader

Brazil’s early adoption of IdLAC for foreign trade and Google’s use of its ID system as an example above reflect the progress the country has made on digital government, which the World Bank highlights in a recent blog post.

A diagnostic analysis performed at the request of the country’s government by the World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) initiative in 2019 helped shape a broad vision for how digital identity could help the country deliver services online. The result was a leap from 20 million to 170 million registered digital ID users.

The challenges faced by the government in implementing the National Digital Government Strategy (ENGD) are analyzed in an article published in the journal Frontiers in Computer Science. Bruno Baranda Cardoso addresses the gaps in digital maturity, risk culture and role of public technology companies that played a role in the development of Brazil’s digital government system.

Article Topics

Co-Develop  |  digital ID infrastructure  |  digital identity  |  digital payments  |  digital public infrastructure  |  Google  |  IdLAC  |  Latin America