As the adoption of digital technologies permeates the economic and social fabric, digitalization becomes key for the development of countries. However, digitalization and automation can also carry the risk of negative impacts, for example on the environment or employment. Therefore, putting digital technologies at the service of development requires effective policies and strategic decisions, as well as processes of dialogue and international cooperation, so that digital transformation can help overcome the current structural gaps and effectively contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. 

Digital transformation is an important area of work for the cooperation between ECLAC and Germany. During the 2018-2020 phase, through the thematic cluster on digital change, countries in the region were supported to design interventions that allow taking advantage of digitalization in a broad and inclusive way with activities on the topics of industry 4.0, social inclusion and gender equality. The german cooperation also facilitated dialogue between ECLAC and the Internet and Jurisdiction Policy Network (I&J). This dialogue led to a fruitful cooperation between I&J and ECLAC, which continues to this day and enabled, among other activities, the joint preparation of a Regional Report 2020 Latin America and the Caribbean. This was the region's first comprehensive exercise to map different policy trends regarding the cross-border nature of the Internet and how it affects different stakeholders such as governments, businesses and civil society.  

Digitalization will continue to be an important cross-cutting and specific component for the Strategic Alliance between ECLAC and Germany.