In a landmark announcement made during the 7th Santo Domingo Chamber Hub 2026, Amazon Web Services has unveiled an ambitious new skills development initiative that will deliver 50,000 no-cost AI and cloud computing training scholarships to Dominican citizens, with all programming set to be completed by 2028.
The program, branded AWS Entrena República Dominicana, was jointly announced by AWS Latin America Vice President Paula Bellizia and Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader. Open to all Dominican residents aged 18 and older, the initiative welcomes applicants across a wide range of backgrounds: from university students and working tech professionals to independent entrepreneurs, startup founders, and leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises. All training modules will be delivered 100% online at no charge to participants, developed specifically to address the rapidly rising demand for advanced digital skills across the Dominican economy.
To deliver the program, AWS has partnered with a broad coalition of domestic stakeholders, including the Santo Domingo Chamber of Commerce, multiple national government ministries and public institutions, the Dominican Banco de Reservas (Banreservas), the Office of Information and Communications Technology (Ogtic), the National Institute of Vocational Training (Infotep), and the National School of the Judiciary.
Bellizia emphasized that growing a robust pipeline of homegrown digital talent is a foundational requirement to boost the Dominican Republic’s global competitiveness, drive long-term productivity gains, and foster a culture of local innovation. She pushed back against framing AI as a distant future technology, noting that artificial intelligence tools are already reshaping business operations across every sector in the region today.
Sharing regional industry data, Bellizia pointed out that three-quarters of all companies across Central America and the Caribbean currently integrate chatbots or generative AI assistants into their customer and internal workflows, while 13% have already deployed purpose-built AI agents to handle core strategic business functions. Across Latin America as a whole, 26% of organizations have already recorded measurable economic value generated from their AI adoption. Bellizia also highlighted two local Dominican success stories: domestic tech firm Qik and retail giant Grupo Ramos, both of which have leveraged cloud infrastructure and AI to streamline operations, boost fraud detection accuracy, and lift overall team productivity.
This new Dominican initiative forms a core part of AWS’s broader regional commitment to train 2 million new digital professionals across Latin America by the end of 2028. For the Dominican Republic, stakeholders project the program will play a critical role in closing the country’s growing digital talent gap, equipping thousands of local workers and businesses with the technical capabilities needed to thrive in an increasingly digital global economy.