In the last couple of years, the pandemic has led to several changes in the way businesses operate; it seems now it has upheld the need for a joint approach towards public procurement frameworks, along with digital support. As a result experts have backed the need for a sustainable digital public infrastructure (DPI). From what it’s understood, digital public goods (DPGs) comprise public commodities which are kept in forms such as artificial intelligence (AI) blueprints, software, data sets, and mechanisms to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “I believe that DPGs are infrastructure built for the digital age. In the digital world, goods and services that benefit the collective and are fundamental in nature can be reimagined as DPGs. The premise of going over the DPG path can lead to value disbursement to end beneficiaries,” Nikhil Kurhe, co-founder and CEO, Finarkein Analytics, a data analytics platform, told FE TransformX.
The ‘public’ factor behind DPGs
Going by the definition present in United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, a DPG is referred to as open source software, open data, open AI models, open standards and open content. Data from the document has mentioned that DPGs should adhere to privacy and other applicable laws and best practices, with the aim to achieve SDGs. It’s believed that the term DPGs has been extracted from the economic concept of public good, which is meant as something that is non-rivalrous and non-excludable.
Market research has shown that DPGs carry a range of benefits for governments, institutions, corporations, among others, to grow in the digital landscape. As per market reports, DPG-based advantages include adaptability, as DPGs can suit local requirements for developing long-term ownership, removal of vendor lock-in, since DPGs’ open-source technology prevents restriction of using a particular kind of technology vendor, partnerships, due to DPG owners being able to approach other communities to share their methodologies, adoptability, on account of DPGs being put into practice without formalities, scrutiny, as DPGs can be subjected to auditing by official agencies, and program feasibility, with implementing countries being able to add their best practices to their DPGs.
“I think adapting the open-source technology will help governments in bringing confidence, transparency, and community support to scale faster and here the concept of DPG matters. Once produced in their digital form, global public goods are considered costless to replicate and make available to all. The recognition of the potential of this technology should be implemented at a national scale to ensure better service delivery to citizens,” Kalyan Kulkarni, CEO, Ayanworks Technology Solutions, a software development company, mentioned.
For something to be classified as DPGs, it’s considered important to follow guidelines of the Digital Public Good Standard, which is based on the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation. Moreover, in order to recognise the importance of DPGs, the Digital Public Goods Registry is consulted for DPGs to be used by corporations, governments, non-profit organisations, among others. According to the Digital Public Goods Alliance, a multi-stakeholder initiative, the true potential of DPGs can be brought forward through referring to its Communities of Practice guidelines, and that DPGs increase in importance upon being added to the global community of DPG practitioners.
The underlying utility of DPGs
In India, the role of DPGs seems to have been in action on account of the implementation of Unified Payment Interface (UPI), Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Aadhar, account aggregator system, Open AI solutions, India stack, among others. For example, India’s eGovernments Foundation, a digital non-profit organisation, introduced the Digital Infrastructure for Verifiable Open Credentialing (DIVOC) which granted more than two billion COVID-19 vaccination authentication, downloaded through the CoWIN platform. Data published by Statista, a data and business intelligence platform, specified that the bandwidth of UPI-oriented digital payments in India stood at more than 83 billion in FY23, which stood at approximately 45 billion in FY22. The platform also stated that till June, 2023, value of monthly Indian UPI transactions stood at more than Rs 14.7 trillion , which grew from underneath Rs 550 billion in August, 2018.
As per the World Bank, an international financial institution, post unveiling of the Indian digital identity system, total count of adults having bank accounts witnessed a 2x increase to 78%, while women’s account ownership also witnessed an upward trend from 26% to 78%. A report published by JLL India, a real estate service platform, specified that the rise in India’s DPI applications will bolster developments associated with India’s data centre sector expansion. “The DPI seems to be gaining recognition in India and is making a mark in a range of sectors. For instance, DPGs are paving the way for the country’s digital transformation through adoption of digital technologies, for government services. Apart from this, these resources seem to have encouraged governance through creation of portals where citizens can interact with government agencies, track processes, and provide feedback,” Delphin Varghese, co-founder and chief business office (CBO), AdCounty Media, a digital goods-based marketing agency, emphasised.
Numbers provided by EY Global Limited ad audit company, showed that during the period of February, 2022, and March, 2023, total number of DPGs enrolled on the Digital Public Goods Alliance’s DPG register increased from 87 to 142. Furthermore, it has been predicted that increased international partnerships should back worldwide governments in creation of a more sustainable DPI infrastructure. Interestingly, support provided by the United Nations Development Programme towards the global DPI landscape is expected to create a self-sovereign identity management system for backing open-source solutions.
“DPGs are projected to increase and become significant in the future, particularly in regard to software firms. Open source software is expected to continue being a crucial part of the landscape of DPGs. To encourage cooperation and creativity, software companies seem to be adopting open source models. More businesses are likely to contribute to and use open source projects as this trend continues,” Amit Kataria, founder, Madrid Software, a data science platform, concluded.
