Alem Tedeneke, Media Lead, Public Engagement, Tel.: +1 212 703 6642; Mobile: +1 646 204 9191; Email: ated@weforum.org
São Paulo, Brazil, 14 March 2018 – The World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) has launched a Tech for Integrity platform to accelerate anti-corruption efforts and reduce the time needed to make tangible impact. This digital platform will leverage tech innovators and partnerships with multistakeholders, including Citi, the Inter-American Development Bank, Transparency International and others to rebuild trust and integrity globally.
Corruption impedes economic growth, contributes to social inequality and obstructs innovation. As such, global leaders of business and government are looking for better ways to improve integrity and transparency across sectors. Technology has emerged as the greatest ally of transparency and a critical tool against corruption.
Four nascent technologies in particular – blockchain, big data analytics, artificial intelligence and e-governance – hold significant promise for businesses and governments to safeguard primary points of vulnerability. Given the early stages of these technologies, the most appropriate tools remain difficult to identify and source by the governments, businesses and civil society actors that need them. Understanding the role of technology and connecting leaders of government and business with the resources they need to promote integrity has a huge potential to create downstream benefits for every aspect of society.
The T4I platform, emerging out of PACI’s Future of Trust and Integrity project, is aimed at providing technological solutions faced by stakeholders addressing corruption. Last year, Citi, in collaboration with public and private sector allies, created and launched the Tech for Integrity Challenge to source innovative solutions to fight corruption. Citi, Mastercard, Microsoft, IBM, PwC, Clifford Chance and Let’s Talk Payments successfully sourced 1,000 registrations, and together with 80 other allies selected 96 finalists to present their ideas at six Demo Days around the world.
“Citi is excited that PACI will continue the T4I mission to solve issues of integrity, continue the collaboration of this fantastic ecosystem and build further momentum in adopting these solutions,” said Julie Monaco, Global Head of the Public Sector Group in Citi’s Corporate and Investment Banking division. “We look forward to working with WEF and PACI to further develop and implement solutions that will make a global impact.”
PACI’s next generation of this platform provides three intersecting spaces to drive thought leadership, networks and increase impact:
Knowledge accelerator – Driven by public-private cooperation, the knowledge accelerator is a dynamic digital repository of information that aims to foster communication and collaboration to deepen understanding of how technologies can better address corruption.
Synergy lab –The synergy lab will help leaders of government, business and civil society identify their specific needs and connect those leaders with innovators providing the most appropriate technology solutions to address those needs.
Impact initiatives – In concert with international organizations, the private sector and civil society, the impact initiatives will share best practices on available solutions, evaluate existing implementation projects, as well as directly engage with such projects to effectively demonstrate how to build solutions into government and business processes to promote trust and integrity.
“Technology is becoming one of our greatest allies in the effort to disrupt corruption,” said Luis Alberto Moreno. President, Inter-American Development Bank. “Coupled with political resolve, the digital revolution can help us reach our goals of greater transparency and accountability in government much faster and more efficiently than we thought possible. The IDB will continue to support this important and timely initiative.”
“New technologies offer great opportunities to enhance participation, access to information and the possibility to monitor public policies. Nevertheless, it is misguided to believe that technology will solve all corruption problems. We have to be careful not to introduce tools that might strengthen the risks of anonymity which are essential in corrupt deals,” said Delia Ferreira Rubio, Chair of Transparency International, a key partner with the PACI project responsible for the new platform. “The Tech for Integrity platform provides a space to debate important issues and share technologies to increase transparency."
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution can only deliver on its potential if leaders know when, where and how to use the tools emerging from it,” said Olivier Schwab, Managing Director and Head of Business Engagement at the World Economic Forum. “PACI’s Tech for Integrity platform connects innovators and implementers to foster a better understanding of the drivers of trust and how to utilize the latest technologies to rebuild integrity.”
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