The Baja California government has been awarded 1st place in the Innovation in Digital Transformation category at the NovaGob Mexico 2026 Awards, in recognition of its Digital Window platform, which has streamlined public procedures and services to benefit the people.
Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda noted that this year’s edition drew 7,963 participants from across Mexico and Latin America. Among them, Baja California’s Digital Window, developed by the state’s Digital Agency, secured top honors, placing among just 12 international finalists in the NovaGob Excellence Awards.
“This award is one of the most prestigious acknowledgements for initiatives reshaping public administration across Ibero-America. In Baja California, we remain committed to digitizing public services so that every Baja Californian citizen, regardless of location, can access fast, straightforward, and efficient procedures. This is part of our broader vision of a government that places people at the heart of every decision,” the governor said.
Gabriel Palombo, Director General of the Digital Agency, explained that the project stood out for its reliance on homegrown technological solutions developed entirely by the state government, all aimed at simplifying services and enhancing citizen assistance.
He explained that Baja California built its own government technology infrastructure, known as BajaStac, which has enabled the state to phase out costly third-party software licenses and significantly strengthen its digital autonomy.
“The governor’s directive was to unify all state agencies within a single digital ecosystem,” Palombo said. “That vision gave rise to the Llave BC Unique Digital Identity Platform, which integrates biometric validation through RENAPO, predictive artificial intelligence, and a Unique Citizen Service Model that supports Mexican Sign Language and indigenous languages, all designed to meet international accessibility standards.”
According to Palombo, since its implementation, the Digital Window has generated an additional 477 million pesos in state revenue, saved more than 60 million pesos by eliminating software licensing fees, and recorded over 2.4 million citizen visits. In 2026, the system issued 644,000 digital vehicle registration cards while cutting government response times by as much as 70% across a wide range of procedures.
The NovaGob Excellence Awards annually honor the most groundbreaking public-sector initiatives in Ibero-America. This year, 173 projects from 103 public institutions across eight countries vied for recognition, with only 12 advancing to the finalist stage.
This latest accolade adds to an already impressive list of honors for Baja California, including the 2025 Most Innovative Award (often likened to the “Oscar of Technological Innovation”) organized by Netmedia Premio; the u-GOB 2025 Award from the Senate of the Republic, which recognized the state’s leadership in digital transformation and socially conscious technology; and an honorable mention at the CIAPEM awards.
With this new distinction, Baja California cements its position as a frontrunner in government innovation, reaffirming its pledge to build a public administration that is faster, more transparent, more accessible, and more deeply attuned to the needs of its citizens by using digital tools to make everyday life easier for the people of Baja California.
