MEXICO CITY — IDB Lab, the innovation and venture arm of the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group), is joining forces with Fundación Capital to expand digital and financial inclusion for older adults and micro and small businesses in Mexico through Connected Finance 55+, an initiative to help more people participate in the digital economy.

The initiative aligns with broader efforts to create lasting economic opportunities through innovation, entrepreneurship, and financial inclusion, while contributing to the social legacy agenda linked to the FIFA World Cup 2026.

WeXchange, IDB Lab’s platform focused on expanding access to opportunities for women entrepreneurs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) across Latin America and the Caribbean, has launched the fourteenth edition of its regional Women STEMpreneurs Competition.

GEORGETOWN — IDB Lab, the innovation and venture arm of the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group), and the University of Guyana’s Institute of Food and Nutrition Security (IFANS) launched an initiative to bring precision agriculture, artificial intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to smallholder farmers across the country’s Amazon Basin.

By Shreshta Chotelal

Along the upper Saramacca River in Suriname, the Matawai community has lived for generations in close connection with a vast stretch of Amazon rainforest. A tribal community with a rich cultural heritage that is deeply connected to the land and river systems that sustain their communities.

They will join a coalition under GovTech Connect, which promotes collaboration to solve public challenges through innovative solutions.

SANTIAGO, CHILE — IDB Lab, the innovation and venture arm of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, and Chile’s Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation announced the incorporation of 13 municipalities into the Coalition of Cities for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CIIAR Chile), an initiative aimed at accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in local governments.

By Paula Auerbach and Javier Madariaga

In the department of Pando, in the Bolivian Amazon, Pando Verde—an initiative implemented by Conservación Amazónica (ACEAA) with the support of IDB Lab—is advancing the development of a productive model that links forest conservation with concrete economic opportunities for local communities.

By Paula Auerbach

This publication, prepared by Professor Geoff Mulgan for IDB Lab, examines how profound demographic shifts -particularly declining birth rates and population aging- pose a critical challenge for Latin America and the Caribbean. Far from being a distant issue, these trends are already reshaping societies and economies across the region.