Infrastructure Solutions to Advance Data Agency in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

1. Overview

The Global Solutions Initiative, in partnership with the Project Liberty Institute (PLI), is addressing one of today’s most urgent governance challenges:

How can governments reclaim agency over digital infrastructure to ensure that technology serves citizens, not just markets?

Data is the lifeblood of the digital economy. Yet those who generate it (citizens) rarely have control over how it’s used or who benefits from it. As private platforms have come to dominate digital systems, governments have lost leverage, and public trust has eroded. GSI is addressing this imbalance by helping governments and partners build citizen-centered, publicly led digital infrastructure that embeds data agency, interoperability, and inclusive participation into the fabric of the digital economy.

2. The Problem

Fragmented technology stacks, siloed governance, and weak interoperability are locking countries into systems that limit innovation, restrict data flows, and deepen inequality. Without stronger public leadership, digital transformation risks reinforcing dependency rather than expanding opportunity.

3. Our Approach

GSI is building the connective tissue between technology builders, rule-makers, and civil society voices – enabling them to co-design systems that are open, trusted, and fair.

Guided by the Digital Infrastructure Toolkit’s framework – Assess, Design, Safeguard, Adopt – the project equips policymakers to:

• Diagnose where their current infrastructure creates dependence or exclusion;
• Co-design interoperable systems aligned with public values;
• Embed safeguards for data protection, trust, and resilience; and
• Adopt models that enable inclusive participation and sustainable innovation.

This work reframes digital infrastructure as a strategic public good – one that governments must actively shape to drive equitable growth and democratic accountability.

4. Key Milestones & Activities

1. November-December 2024 – Inaugural Consultation and Intermediary Report. The first consultation brought together more than 30 experts on the sidelines of the Paris Peace Forum. Insights from these policymakers, academics, and business leaders informed the Intermediary Report, which identified government leadership and cross-sector cooperation as critical to advancing a fair and inclusive digital economy.
2. March–May 2025 – Development of the Toolkit for Policymakers. Subsequent consultations, held alongside the Decentralized Tech Summit in Washington, D.C., and the T7 Summit in Waterloo, Canada, led to the development of the Toolkit for Policymakers, launched at the Global Solutions Summit in May of 2025. The toolkit synthesizes findings on how governments can effectively design, deploy, and govern digital infrastructure to foster innovation and public value.
3. July 2025–Present – Contextualization and Dissemination PhaseDuring WSIS+20 and AI for Good in Geneva, the project entered its contextualization and dissemination phase, which it continued in September in New York City, hosting a Digital@UNGA Side Event (read more). Moreover, through in-depth interviews with policymakers from Brazil, Cambodia, France, Senegal, South Africa, Mexico, Switzerland, Kenya, and Germany, the initiative is analyzing national strategies, policy approaches, and implementation challenges in digital infrastructure development.

5. Stakeholder Engagement

The project has engaged a diverse range of stakeholders, including parliamentarians, digital ambassadors, policy staff from the U.S. Congress and the White House, leaders of civil society organizations and think tanks, representatives of tech businesses, senior officials from the UN, scientists, and national civil servants.

6. Emerging Insights

• Fragmentation of technology stacks and the persistence of governance and financing silos remain widespread challenges.
• Interoperability is universally valued, though its meaning varies – from coordination across ministries to harmonization across borders.
• Building and maintaining public trust in digital infrastructure is essential for adoption, inclusivity, and long-term impact.

7. Looking Ahead

Throughout the remainder of 2025, the project will continue to engage policymakers to further refine and contextualize the Toolkit, with the aim of supporting the formulation and implementation of national digital infrastructure strategies. As part of this ongoing work, the project will participate in the T20 Summit in Johannerburg in November.

Building on insights gathered from this phase of policymaker consultations, a forthcoming publication – Roadmap for the Implementation of Digital Infrastructure – is scheduled for publication in March 2026.