2026 Global Data Festival: IATI members showcase open data and AI-powered innovation
IATI members participated in the 2026 Global Data Festival and Kenya Space Expo & Conference, held from 2–5 June 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya. The event brought together more than 1,400 participants across 100+ sessions under the theme "Powering Resilience, Innovation, and Partnership through Data and Technology."
As part of the festival programme, IATI member, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), showcased an innovative application of artificial intelligence designed to enhance the usability of IATI data.
During a lightning talk, Sarah Neumann from BMZ presented ChecKI+, an AI-assisted tool that helps improve the quality of project descriptions published through the IATI Standard. By making project information clearer and easier to understand, tools such as ChecKI+ demonstrate how artificial intelligence can help make development data more accessible and useful for a wide range of stakeholders.
The festival also provided an opportunity for IATI’s community to connect and exchange insights on the future of data and technology in development cooperation. Alongside BMZ, representatives from IATI member organisations attended the event, including the Islamic Development Bank, APC Colombia and the Association of Freelance Journalists.
As conversations around artificial intelligence continue to accelerate, IATI's open dataset provides a valuable foundation for innovation. Covering more than USD 3.7 trillion in development and humanitarian spending, the IATI Standard enables access timely, comparable and interoperable information.
IATI thanks the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and all IATI members attending the festival and for championing the role of open data in advancing transparency and development effectiveness.
By improving the quality, accessibility and use of development and humanitarian data, the IATI community is helping to ensure that data-driven technologies contribute to more informed decisions, stronger partnerships and better outcomes for people around the world.