Bengaluru, November 21, 2025: The Centre for Open Societal Systems (COSS) at IIIT-Bangalore and DATAPREV, Brazil’s majority government-owned IT organisation, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up the Centro de Infraestrutura Pública Digital (CIPD) in Florianópolis, Brazil. The agreement was formally signed on October 30, 2025.
The new centre has been conceived as a hub for advancing Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in Brazil, with the potential to support innovation and capacity building across Latin America. It aims to integrate India’s experience in designing and deploying DPI with Brazil’s long-standing digital public innovation ecosystem.
CIPD will focus on developing institutional capacity through training and knowledge exchange, piloting open-source DPI solutions in sectors such as education, labour, and social protection, and enabling research and collaboration on digital architecture and governance.
The MoU was signed in Brasília by Prof. Debabrata Das, Director of IIIT-Bangalore, and Mr. Rodrigo Assumpção, CEO of DATAPREV. The ceremony was attended by Ambassador of India to Brazil Dinesh Bhatia, MGI Executive Secretary Cristina Kiomi Mori, Deputy Secretary for Digital Transformation at the President’s Office Beatriz Vasconcellos, EkStep Foundation CEO Shankar Maruwada, COSS CEO Ramesh M.C., DATAPREV board members, senior officials, and employees.
The event also featured remarks by Brazil’s Minister of Management and Innovation (MGI), Esther Dweck, and Ambassador Bhatia, who underscored the growing strategic digital cooperation between India and Brazil and highlighted CIPD’s role in supporting equitable digital transformation.
COSS CEO Ramesh M.C. said, “At IIIT-B/COSS we are honoured and proud to be a partner with Dataprev to create the first Brazil–India institutional cooperation in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). This is an extension of the increasing strategic cooperation between our two countries championed by President Lula and Prime Minister Modi. This center is built on our joint values of digital sovereignty and inclusive growth and will drive societal transformation through DPI for all Brazilians.”
Prof. Debabrata Das described the partnership as an important step in strengthening global digital collaboration. “By combining IIIT-B's leadership in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) with Brazil’s innovation in public digital services, we aim to co-create scalable, open, and inclusive digital systems that empower societies across Latin America and beyond,” he said.
With CIPD now established, IIIT-Bangalore, COSS, and DATAPREV aim to support the development of open, interoperable, and inclusive digital systems to advance societal transformation in Brazil, the broader LATAM region, and globally.
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