IFC Publishes Roadmap for Accelerating AI Investment in Emerging Markets

The International Finance Corporation published a new handbook in May 2026 outlining a practical framework for accelerating AI investment in emerging markets, as countries weigh the risk of being left behind in a technology transition that is moving faster and proving more technically complex than previous waves of digital disruption.

The handbook, authored by Lana Graf, Anastasia Nedayvoda, and Eveline Smeets from the World Bank Group's Digital and AI Vice Presidency, is directed at investors, policymakers, and AI ecosystem builders seeking to assess where AI investment in developing countries can compound and where constraints are likely to slow or block scaling.

According to the handbook, its central argument is that sustainable AI ecosystems in emerging markets require more than access to cutting-edge models.

They depend on the right combination of hard infrastructure, data centers, high-performance computing, connectivity, soft infrastructure such as digital skills, accelerators, and research labs, and foundational digital systems including national identity, payments, and data exchange platforms.