Mexico has already met Solid. Now there’s support to build with it.

Last June, a room full of developers at Tec de Monterrey’s Mexico City campus spent two days experimenting with Solid, a protocol that represents the next phase of the web. The Open Data Institute (ODI) is now looking for six projects from around the world to build with Solid in ways that lead to meaningful social good, and serve as examples of what the technology can help deliver.

What is Solid?

Solid is an open standard for managing digital identities and storing personal data for re-use across applications on the Web. Instead of every application keeping its own separate copy of your information, Solid stores it in a personal online data store, or Pod, that you control. You decide which applications get access to what, and you can change your mind at any time. The data stays yours; the apps come to it. If you’d rather watch than read, there’s a short explainer video that covers the basics in a few minutes.

Solid in Mexico City

This isn’t Solid’s first conversation in Latin America. On 17 June 2026, Matthieu Bosquet and Roberto S.K. Breitman from the ODI travelled to the Conciencia hackathon, hosted by the Dot network and the Young AI Leaders Community’s Mexico City chapter, with support from the city’s Department for Digital Innovation (ADIP).

«Amplifying projects that generate real social and economic development in Mexico is the essence of The Dot Network. Collaborating with ODI to advance decentralized privacy technologies like Solid is exactly the kind of bridge we exist to build.» — Sissi De La Peña, Founder of The Dot Network

Their keynote wasn’t a pitch for technology, it was an argument about who should own and benefit from personal data on the web. Teams at Conciencia were working on citizen safety, urban flooding, safer student commutes and waste management: problems where the useful data is deeply personal, and where asking people to hand it over is often the thing that stops a good idea from working. Solid offers a different arrangement, and the ODI’s sessions gave the teams a tutorial app and hands-on time to see what that looks like in code, not just in principle.

«It is incredibly exciting to see the potential of Mexican talent to build solutions for the public good using responsible technologies like Solid. We witnessed this firsthand at the Concienc.ia hackathon, and we are thrilled to see how this ecosystem continues to grow.» — Eugenio Salas Iturriaga, Leader of the Young AI Leaders Mexico City Hub

The open call

The ODI is looking for six non-commercial projects supporting public good, to implement Solid in ways that lead to meaningful social impact. Selected teams get six months of tailored support and testing infrastructure, from November 2026 to the end of April 2027.

Who can apply: projects that offer a novel solution to a social problem, where the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals. All non-commercial projects are eligible, meaning non-profits, charities, academic institutions, civil society bodies and individuals are all eligible.

What teams receive: dedicated time with Solid-specialist ODI engineers, Pod hosting on ODI servers, strategic workshops to shape an adoption and implementation roadmap, introductions across the Solid ecosystem, and advocacy support.

Projects from Latin America are particularly welcome. The problems teams tackled at Conciencia are exactly the kind of work this open call is looking to support.

Applications close 30 September 2026, 17:00 BST. Read the full details and apply on the ODI’s open call page.