The OECD.AI Policy Navigator

The National Artificial Intelligence Strategy of the Dominican Republic (ENIA) sets out a national roadmap to harness artificial intelligence as a driver of development, facilitating the creation of AI infrastructure that works in the public interest and promoting business growth to generate opportunities and prosperity for citizens. Launched in October 2023 as part of the National Innovation Policy 2030, the strategy aims to integrate AI ethically and responsibly across sectors to support sustainable development in the country.

The strategy is structured around six priority pillars: Infrastructure: the backbone; Human talent: the heart of the system; Governance: the brain of the system; The TAINA project: an example of an AI system adapted to Latin America; Regional networks: the nervous system; and Financing: the drive for development. These priorities reflect the strategy’s focus on addressing challenges such as the digital divide, limited connectivity, low levels of research and development investment, and shortages of advanced technological skills, while leveraging AI as an opportunity for economic growth and innovation.

ENIA places strong emphasis on building technological and institutional capacity. It highlights actions to improve digital connectivity, expand national and regional data centre capacity, develop a national data hub and decentralised digital architecture, and establish national standards for AI systems to strengthen cybersecurity. The strategy also stresses industry-university collaboration, the creation of research centres and incubators, and programmes to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. Human talent development is identified as central, with education, training, upskilling and reskilling initiatives, including AI‑focused academic programmes and large‑scale training targets intended to graduate thousands of new technology professionals annually, with particular attention to inclusion and participation by women.

Governance and ethics form a core pillar of the strategy. ENIA promotes ethical and responsible AI through mechanisms such as regulatory sandboxes, ethical codes and supervised testing, while emphasising the importance of local capacity, cultural relevance and the development of home‑grown AI models to avoid technological dependency. The strategy also underlines regional cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean, including shared infrastructure, data initiatives and governance principles, positioning AI as both a national and regional tool for development.