Focus:
The DEWG aims at digital transformation to enhance public participation and realise inclusive social and economic growth.
Priorities:
Priority 1: Artificial Intelligence.
Priority 2: Digital Public Infrastructure.
Priority 3: Digital Innovation Ecosystems.
Priority 4: Connectivity for inclusive digital development.
Deliverables:
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Workshop on AI and inequality (research from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation [UNESCO]) on AI and inequality not yet published).
- Access to data for micro, small, and medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and data sharing with, and by, the private sector.
- Use cases of AI for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), including focus on South Africa in terms of identifying needs, financing and capacity building.
- Consider existing research and reports, and survey the strategies and policy and regulatory frameworks and interventions being developed globally, to assist countries to respond to AI.
- Workshop to engage concepts with G20 Membership, international organisations and academia, with expert inputs from UNESCO, ITU, the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the UN University, the UN Secretary-General Expert Advisory Group, South African AI experts from academia, as well as more widely from across Africa.
Digital Public Infrastructure
- Side event on applications of the Department of Public Information (DPI) from G20 Members and others, as well as a research or survey document looking at different experiences and initiatives in DPI implementation globally, and drawing on key learnings, engaging with experts from leading practitioners and UN agencies (ITU, UN Development Programme, the European Union, the African Union, and leading agencies and practitioners).
Digital Innovation Ecosystems
- Initial proposals have been developed for an event to showcase micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) innovation in the ICT sector from among the G20 member states, working with digital sequence information (DSI). Currently it is proposed that the ministerial meetings for the DEWG and the Research and Innovation Working Group take place back-to-back in Cape Town, with the MSME digital innovation event taking place in between the two ministerial events. This will enable participation from both sets of ministers across the G20 and invited guests. This event could be a major showcase for the South African Presidency because it will be an opportunity to showcase South African innovation. It will speak to economic development, high living standards, and job creation in the digital economy.
- There is also an intention to have a workshop on Digital Innovation Ecosystems, drawing on international best practices, and involving ITU, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and several South African initiatives and programmes led by the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT), the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DTSI) and the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA).
Connectivity for inclusive digital development
- Workshop on the modernisation of statistics and innovative financing models, building on the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data and the call for an “International Data Decade” made by the Think20 (T20) at the G20 2024.
