NEWS

From the Local Innovation Network (RIL), through our Solutions Center and the media platform +COMUNIDAD, we have launched a partnership with Malditos Optimistas, the program that explores the innovation ecosystem across Latin America.

Broadcast on DirecTV through its DNews channel and available on the DGO platform, the program was created in 2025 to cover topics such as technology, sustainability, and new ways of doing things in the region. Starting in April 2026, it will add a new dimension: local public innovation.

At RIL, we document solutions driven by local governments, focusing on the problem identified, the response designed, and the results being generated. This work is now integrated into a TV and streaming format, with a weekly segment within the program that will showcase diverse cases from Latin American cities. Inés Reineke, RIL’s Global Innovation Director, will participate as a panelist every Wednesday, sharing her perspective on the challenges and opportunities of local public innovation in the region.

This partnership is based on a clear premise: many solutions to Latin America’s challenges are already happening in different cities. Making them visible, sharing them, and enabling their replication is a core part of the work we drive at RIL across the region.

The first episode of this segment will air on Wednesday, April 15, and will focus on Ojos en Alerta, a citizen security system based on WhatsApp that has already been replicated in more than 100 cities. We will speak live with Cristian Méndez, creator of the program.

“Partnering with mass media outlets with reach across Latin America is not just a milestone in terms of institutional positioning—it is a key part of our theory of change. Showcasing the most innovative responses to public challenges in the region, so that other cities can replicate them, is central to the change we want to see: more governments placing citizens at the center, responding efficiently and effectively to people’s needs, until achieving the ‘irreversible change’ described by Everett Rogers, where strong local governance becomes the new normal,” says Inés Reineke.

Through this initiative, we aim to expand the reach of solutions that are already working across the region.

Subscribe to the Malditos Optimistas channel so you don’t miss anything! https://www.youtube.com/@MalditosOptimistas