Chile
Recent trends
In the last decade, Chile has strengthened trust in digital technologies. In 2019, perceived e-commerce safety (73.1%) and trust in online privacy (59.6%) were above averages in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) (63.1% and 54.9%) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (58.3% and 45.6%). Performance in the Global Cybersecurity Index improved but remains below the OECD average. The country made progress in digital inclusion: Internet users and active mobile broadband and fixed broadband subscriptions increased.
Chile has the most mature digital ecosystem in LAC for start-ups catering to the public sector in the Corporacion Andina de Fomento GovTech index, which measures the development of the start-up industry, government policies and procurement systems. In terms of promoting an inclusive digital society, the number of students per computer fell from 1.7 in 2015 to 1.1 in 2018, which is in line with the OECD average (1.1) and below the LAC average (1.6). A gap persists in digital innovation metrics: high-technology exports represented 6.4% of total manufactured exports in 2018, compared with averages in LAC (8.6%) and the OECD (15.1%).
National strategies and international co-operation for digital transformation
The 2020 digital agenda (DA) Chile Digital para Tod@s (Digital Chile for everybody) is the main reference document for the digital transformation of the country. It looks at technology as a means to reduce inequalities, open new and better development opportunities, and advance human rights. The DA is based on six objectives: respecting human rights related to the Internet and information and communications technologies (ICTs); achieving universal connectivity; using ICT to improve quality of life; contributing to expanding the digital economy; using digital technologies for quality education; and supporting policies for the digital transformation that have a multi-sectoral approach.
Related policies include Law No. 21.180 of 2019 on the Digital Transformation of the State, which aims to digitalise and modernise public institutions’ administrative procedures. Chile launched ClaveÚnica (SingleKey) in 2012, a state authentication system, used by more than 5 million Chileans in 2020, allowing access to public services on line with a unique identification number. Chile introduced the Cybersecurity Policy in 2018. Under the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy, to be launched in 2020, the development and use of AI tools will empower citizens. The policy has three pillars: enabling factors (i.e. human capital, communication infrastructure and data); development and use of AI; and ethics, regulation and socio-economic impacts. The policy is being developed by an expert and an intergovernmental committee, along with a wide and unique participation process, including self-convocated roundtables, regional workshops, virtual meetings and a public consultation. To respond to the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis on aspects related to telecommunications, the government launched the Plan Solidario de Conectividad (Solidarity connectivity plan), which allows families with limited resources to connect to the Internet for free. The Ministry of Education, along with the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications, is promoting a plan that provides 3 million students with free access to education sites through mobile devices. The online platforms cater to students in pre-kindergarten to grade 4 (CAF, 2020).
Among Chile’s initiatives, Tu Empresa en Un Día 2.0 (Your firm in one day) is a digital platform, developed in 2013, to encourage entrepreneurship and facilitate firm registration. It allows entrepreneurs to carry out transactions in the lifecycle of firms in one place. Estado Cero Filas (Government without queues) aims to eliminate unnecessary public transactions and digitalise at least 80% of transactions by 2021 and 100% by 2023. Public institutions will be restricted from requesting citizen information that they already possess, encouraging interoperability within public administration. The Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism’s Digitalise your SME programme assists small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to increase sales, lower costs and improve customer and supplier relations through digital technologies. Hospital Digital (Digital Hospital) consists in the digitalisation of the health-care system, with plans to offer e-health services and access to information on past medical examinations, vaccines and patient files through an electronic health record system.
In terms of international co-operation, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore finalised negotiations of the first Digital Economy Partnership Agreement in January 2020. The objective is to establish basic rules on digital trade and a friendly framework for ICT firms to enable more SMEs to enter the global economy.
Chile also collaborates with the European Union (EU) on High Performance Computing (HPC) as part of the European Commission’s Future and Emerging Technologies programme. HPC initiatives develop technology and solutions to improve performance in scientific applications and services. It will identify key application areas and hardware and system requirements, identify international funding schemes and promote exchange of best practices between the EU and research communities in Chile and other LAC countries.
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