Transcript INFORMATION ECONOMY REPORT 2011 ICTs as an Enabler for

ICT for Development
Presentation at
Short courses on key
international economic issues
Geneva, 14 May 2012
Torbjörn Fredriksson
OIC, Science, Technology and
ICT Branch, UNCTAD
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Outline
Why information and communication technologies (ICTs)
matter
Recent trends in the global ICT landscape
UNCTAD’s role
Cécile:
E-commerce and cyberlaw harmonization
UNCTAD’s support to the EAC
The case of Mobile Money
Planned projects (ASEAN, Central America)
ICTPRs
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Why ICTs matter (1)
To enhance progress towards the MDGs
“
New technology-based solutions that did not exist
when the Goals were endorsed can and should be
leveraged to allow for rapid scaling up. The most
important of these technologies involve use of
mobile telephones, broadband Internet, and other
information and communications technologies.
”
Source: Report of the Secretary-General, 12 February 2010, A/64/665.
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Why ICTs matter (2)
General-purpose technology: can be applied throughout society
Disaster risk reduction
E-governance
E-government
E-banking
E-environment
E-health
ICT4D
E-education
E-agriculture
ICT Infrastructure
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ICT skills
E-commerce
E-business
Local content
Legal framework
Why ICTs matter (3)
Areas of relevance to UNCTAD
Information Economy rather than Information Society
The production of ICT goods and services
Value added/composition of ICT sector
Job creation
Trade (ITA; Offshoring; Value chains, etc)
Innovation
The use of ICT goods and services
Digital divides
Enhanced productivity
E-government for business
Legal issues
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Why ICTs matter (4)
ICTs, Enterprises and Poverty Alleviation
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Why ICTs matter (5)
The case of ICTs and Private Sector Development
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The Evolving ICT Landscape (1)
Mobiles preferred ICT tool among small businesses
Mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by country group, 2000-2010
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Source: ITU
The Evolving ICT Landscape (2)
New forms of mobile use
Text messaging (SMS)
Mobile money
Expanding especially in Africa
Only 5 systems in the EU
Mobile Internet
Smartphone sales surging
Africa: 84m mobiles already
Internet-enabled
China: 12% of Internet users go
on-line via the mobile
India: >250m mobile data users
Mobile broadband
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Sources: UNCTAD, GSMA, ITU, national data, Gartner, J.M. Ledgard.
Mobile money deployments, 2001-2011
(number of deployments)
The Evolving ICT Landscape (3)
Broadband divides
Average download speeds, selected economies, 2010 (Mbps)
Penetration gap
• < 1m fixed broadband
subscriptions in LDCs
• Person in developed
country almost 300 times
more likely to have
access to fixed
broadband than a person
in an LDC
Different speeds
Price differences
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Sources: UNCTAD, Ookla, ITU.
The Evolving ICT Landscape (4)
New job opportunities in mobile sector
Mobile Sector Employment, Selected Economies
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Mobile phones and dairy farmers in Bhutan
98 per cent of population (690,000) live in rural areas
Mobiles 2005-2010: from 5 to 55 subscriptions/100 people
Now supporting dairy farmers
Access to market and price information
Avoid intermediaries – deal directly with customers
Increased direct sales, less waiting time
Improved communications
Mobiles are affordable
Government launched mobile info system – 4 languages
New employment has been created
Support to livelihood of poor farmers
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The Evolving ICT Landscape (5)
The rise of "crowdsourcing" and "freelancing"
Hours worked by week via the ODesk platform
Case
Amazon Mechanical Turk
Crowd-sourcing of Micro-work
• In 2008, 76% of microworkers in US, 8% India
• In 2010, 47% in US, 34%
in India, remaining 19% in
66 (!) other countries
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Source: UNCTAD, World Bank and ODesk.
Freelancers in Bangladesh
10,000 freelancers active online
Most service clients in US or Europe
Provide a range of services over the web
Software development
Graphic design
Social media marketing, etc
New Central Bank Directive (2011):
Revenue should be treated as export-related commercial income
rather than as remittances
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Source: UNCTAD, BASIS and ITC.
Opportunities and Implications
New ICT landscape opens for more inclusive development
Key areas within ICT sector:
Mobile sector
Software – growing local demand, new export channels
Outsourcing/crowdsourcing – ICT-enabled services
It takes more than infrastructure
Need for comprehensive strategies – address the four
facets – to reap full development benefit from ICTs
Move from supply to demand-driven interventions
Leverage partnerships with private sector and civil society
Better data needed – especially in services
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UNCTAD’s Role (1)
Mandate
Doha Mandate $56q
Accra Accord $ 158-161
Active in all three pillars
Research and analysis
Information Economy Report, statistics
Technical assistance and capacity-building
Measuring the Information Economy
E-commerce and law reform
ICT Policy Reviews
Consensus-building
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UNCTAD’s Role (2)
Collaboration within UN system
UN Group on the Information Society (UNGIS)
UNCTAD current chair (until end of 2012)
ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNDESA vice chairs
29 members
Co-organizer of the annual WSIS Forum
Lead facilitator of Action Line C7 on E-business
Secretariat of the (CSTD)
Follow-up to the WSIS
Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development
Member of its Steering Committee
12 members
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Donors Supporting UNCTAD in ICT4D
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Questions and
Answers
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