Human Colossus Foundation at the Global DPI Summit: Shaping the Future of Digital Public Infrastructure

The Human Colossus Foundation (HCF) was honored to participate in the Global Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Summit in Cairo, under the auspices of H.E. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of The Arab Republic of Egypt.

The Global Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Summit in Cairo was the world's first summit dedicated to DPI. Bringing together a diverse ecosystem of experts. The summit featured insightful keynotes, engaging discussions, and practical focus panels where participants shared real-world DPI implementation experiences. Success stories spanned across national digital identity, payments, government services, and data exchange initiatives. However, discussions highlighted challenges, particularly in cross-governance data exchange and the interoperability layer, signaling a need for improved solutions to ensure a seamless DPI ecosystem across sectors and borders.

At the summit, discussions emphasized the need to start thinking about implementation of DPI, beyond service oriented use cases such as finance, public services, and governance. These sectors have benefited from DPI adoption, but as noted during the summit, there remains much work to do in improving its application across industries.

One of the key discussions revolved around the evolution of DPI. First iteration of DPI  provided the initial frameworks for public digital infrastructure, focusing on secure and efficient digital services. However, the future version promises to shift the focus towards interoperability, with a higher emphasis on connecting different systems and ensuring they work together seamlessly. This is a critical development as governments and organizations look to build more integrated, accessible, and collaborative infrastructures. This trend is welcomed by HCF as it goes in the direction the Foundation has been promoting since its creation in 2020, a total interoperability within and across ecosystems.

Data exchange was a recurring theme during the event.In particular, the necessity of cross  borders governance frameworks was raised and discussed. While there has been much progress within individual countries or regions, many experts admitted that the global community still lacks a clear pathway to enable effective cross-governance data exchange. The complexities of regulatory frameworks, governance structures, and varying legal standards pose significant challenges. At present, there seems to be no clear consensus on how to tackle this issue, highlighting the urgent need for collaborative innovation. HCF witness these complexities in the projects we are involved (see Governance Periscope blog post of Sep.16). There is not one single digital governance framework that will capture the world’s diversity. 

HCF was pleased to see a strong emphasis on inclusion and the need for vendor-agnostic solutions, ensuring that digital public infrastructure is accessible to all, regardless of geography or socio-economic status. This aligns with HCF’s mission of building decentralized, scalable infrastructure that works for everyone, not just for those in advanced economies or within specific vendor ecosystems.

HCF’s vision for a digital infrastructure that scales horizontally was widely accepted at the summit. The need for a common infrastructure that can be applied across various industries and sectors was highlighted as critical for the next phase of DPI development. This closely aligns with HCF's work, which focuses on enabling cross-sector digital infrastructure that is decentralized, scalable, and interoperable.

The first DPI summit was a great success, setting the stage for the continued development of global digital public infrastructures. The next DPI Summit is scheduled for November 4-6, 2025, and it promises to build on the momentum from Cairo, with even more insights and innovations expected to emerge. 

HCF is excited to continue contributing to these important discussions, helping shape the global DPI ecosystem and ensuring that it meets the needs of people across all sectors and regions.

In conclusion, the Global DPI Summit in Cairo highlighted the critical role DPI will play in shaping the future digital economy, and HCF’s work in decentralized infrastructure aligns perfectly with this vision. We look forward to further collaborations and innovations in the years to come.