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Regional Initiative Accelerator

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Countries around the world are navigating digital transformations. As part of that process, ITU membership needs new ways to jump-start digital development on regional priorities.

The Regional Initiative Accelerator (RI Accelerator) provides an open platform where stakeholders can co-create and refine concepts for moving projects along faster.

​The RI Accelerator is a service of the Digital Transformation Lab – part of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development. In that spirit, stakeholders are encouraged to use innovation to propel their regional initiatives.

The RI Accelerator was launched in October 2024 in Valletta, Malta, at a meeting of the Digital Innovation Board of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development. ​

Narrowing the digital-innovation gap

The RI Accelerator mechanism holds promise for helping countries and regions move quickly to accomplish their digital development goals. The RI Accelerator approach could particularly benefit Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States.

How does it work?




The RI Accelerator is a mechanism using innovative processes, tools, and frameworks established as a product of the Digital Transformation Lab (one of the Vehicles of the Alliance) to pave the way for a new way the BDT can support the delivery of regional initiatives. 

It is A process for accelerating regional initiatives by:

  1. kick-starting ideation and definition of RIs and project concepts based on stakeholder engagement
  2. supporting the definition and implementation of critical milestones of ITU Regional Initiatives


The RI Accelerator Projects

The project got under way in February 2025 with a workshop in Podgorica, Montenegro. 
Workshop participants identified opportunities to build digital resilience and emergency response and worked on a blueprint to promote collaboration and progress.

The Asia and the Pacific Regional Initiative Accelerator Workshop will take place from 27–29 April 2025 in Shenzhen, China, in connection with the upcoming BRICS event. This three-day workshop is jointly organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology (CAICT), and the China Branch of the BRICS Institute of Future Networks (BIFNC).