Office towers and high-rise buildings in central Addis Ababa under a cloudy sky..Photo: Abenezer Muluken / Pexels, Pexels License
Ethiopia's National ID Program, re-established in August as Faydaverse Digital Solutions, has opened a sandbox where developers, innovators and early-stage startups can test Fayda digital ID authentication before going live, [Biometric Update reported](https://www.biometricupdate.com/202610/ethiopia-launches-developer-sandbox-to-support-fayda-digital-id-innovation-integration) on 9 October. The [Fayda Partner Portal](https://partner.fayda.et/docs) offers application programming interface (API) references, code examples and guidance on the eSignet OpenID Connect sign-in flow. According to Biometric Update, Fayda had more than 52 million registrations, 150 integrated partners and over 208 million electronic know-your-customer (eKYC) verifications as of 9 October.
Chicago City Council's Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety on 9 October backed an ordinance to expand Smart Streets, [the Chicago Sun-Times reports](https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2026/10/09/chicago-smart-streets-bus-bike-lane-violation). The pilot uses camera-equipped Department of Finance vehicles and Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) buses to enforce parking violations in bus and bike lanes. Coverage would grow in phases and go citywide in January 2028. The department's camera fleet would rise from eight to 26 vehicles, and the CTA could fit cameras to up to 100 buses. Committee chair Daniel La Spata said 82 per cent of drivers who received a warning never got a ticket. The full council has yet to vote.
Official releaseUK Government Digital Service blog
The UK government is investing £12 million in Data Sharing Infrastructure Initiatives to help businesses access, manage and share data more effectively, according to a Government Digital Service blog post. Over the next three years, the programme will work with businesses and sectors to identify barriers to data sharing and develop practical approaches for use across the economy. The National Digital Twin Programme has spent four years developing the National Node Net, an open-source, Crown-IP data sharing infrastructure, which the National Energy System Operator has adopted.
On World Tourism Day India’s tourism ministry and the Open Network for Digital Commerce launched a National Digital Tourism Stack. It aims to bring 23,000 tourism experiences and homestays onto shared digital rails by the end of 2028, with a pilot from January to June 2027.
The Government Digital Service and the housing ministry are a month into “100 days of Digital Devolution”, which began on 1 September. On 9 September an Early Years Innovation Challenge day brought more than 100 people from local and central government, health and education together to work out how better data sharing could support earlier help for children and families.
