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infoDev
Promoting ICT as a Tool for
Development
WITSA Member Meeting
Cairo, November 4, 2007
About infoDev
Our Programs:
A multi-donor consortium hosted by the
World Bank
Our Mission:
to enable effective use of information and
communication technologies to promote
sustainable development
Our Services:
Applied Research - Pilot Projects
Capacity Building - Advisory Services
Monitoring and Evaluation
Access
Innovation
& Entrepreneurship
Mainstreaming
Access to ICT for All
The Challenge:
Growth Areas:
• Rapid technological development
• Regulation Toolkit + Global
Regulator Capacity Building
Initiative w/ITU – lasting institutional
capacity through training of trainers
• Immense access gaps
• Limited regulator and policy capacity
Our Strengths:
• Global recognition for the ICT Regulation
Toolkit and cutting-edge expertise on
Universal Access, Spectrum Management,
Licensing, Competition Management
• Ready access to a global network of ICT
regulators and policymakers
• Partnerships with the International
Telecommunications Union, the International
Finance Corporation, and the World Bank
• Internet infrastructure
development – convening local and
international actors across sectors
• Policies and regulations for new
trends and technologies
• Business models for serving the
underserved
www.ictregulationtoolkit.org
“This is the single most helpful regulatory tool that
I have seen.”
Dr. Salamao Manhica, Chairman, Instituto Nacional
de Telecommunicacoes de Mozambique (INCM).
ICT in Education
Increasing demand
• 37 African countries have formal
strategies to promote ICT use in education
Growth Areas:
• 100+ ICT in education projects have been
or are under implementation
• Education policymaker
capacity building
• Increasing number of inquiries for advice
and capacity building
• Monitoring and evaluation
advice and methodologies
Our strengths
• Recognition as a thought leader &
convenor for joint donor action
• Substantial knowledge-base i.e. 10+
publications, + surveys, evaluations, +
practical capacity building implementations
in 20+ countries.
• A solid network of experts and clients,
including partnerships with UNESCO,
Commonwealth of Learning, IADB, WB
• Programs for national ICT
skills development
• Understanding the ROI of
low-cost ICT devices
“ Data shows that ICT, properly
implemented, promotes and enables
educational reform, motivates learning
and promotes greater efficiencies in
education systems and practices”
Source: infoDev Knowledge Map
ICT-enabled Services for the Poor
ICT Devices for the Poor
• Mobile phones now extend
financial services to people who
have never had a bank account.
Are there scalable/replicable
models?
• How can the total cost of
ownership be reduced to enable
the poor to access communication
and information?
• What other mobile services could
be delivered to serve the poor?
The Incubator Initiative
• Started in 2002 with funding from Japan
• Premise:
– SMEs are key to social and economic development
– Information and communication technologies represent a
key opportunity for developing countries
• Businesses across sectors benefit from ICT
• ICT opens up new business opportunities
• Financing and technical assistance for start-up,
capacity building and expansion of incubators
focused on ICT-enabled entrepreneurship
Business Incubation
Business incubation is about nurturing growth-oriented
start-up enterprises to grow and become
sustainable competitive companies.
Incubation intends to:
• Increase commercialization of ideas
• Encourage business start-up by reducing the risk and
cost of starting a new business
• Increase the survival rate and competitiveness of
promising start-ups by building capacity and networks
It is about access to:
•Infrastructure •Business Advice •Finance •People
ICT-enabled Innovation & Entrepreneurship
80+ Incubators
Advice
I&E Action Learning
Donors/Govts Program
50+ Countries
3000+
entrepreneurs
M&E
Research
Regional Networking
Global Networking & Technical
Assistance
Financing (grants) to catalyze start-up of
incubators, and strengthen the capacity of
existing incubators
2003
2004
2005
2006
How do you
• design government policy and
programs to support technology
entrepreneurship and ICT sector
development?
• monitor and evaluate ICT
entrepreneurship programs
•start and operate incubators that
yields competitive and sustainable
enterprises?
•provide appropriate financing to
technology entrepreneurs?
2007
2008
2009
A growing global network
Significant long term impact:
•
Regional Networks in:
Africa, Asia, Eastern
Europe & Central Asia,
Latin America &
Caribbean, Middle East
& North Africa
•
•
•
75% of their clients continue to
operate three years after graduating
50% estimate that their clients will
create up to 100 new jobs over the
next two years
The majority has had a significant
impact on policy, financing and the
culture for entrepreneurship
They enable commercialization of
local ICT4D innovations i.e. software
to monitor water quality, online
medical examination tools.
Opportunities for
Collaboration
• Linkages to the incubator network as a source of
innovations and partnership
• Outreach to incubators in your countries – common
national areas of interest?
• Co-sponsored studies in areas of common interest
– National obstacles to ICT-enabled entrepreneurship and
innovation
– Assessment of ICT skills levels/vocational and other training
available
– Bridging the access gap – innovative business models
• ???
Incubation Challenges
First ever global
assessment of incubator
impact - incubators in 43
countries surveyed
93% have difficulties finding,
training and keeping staff for
the incubator
Entrepreneurs
Business
Policymakers
Incubator
Technology Parks
Academia
Regulators
Financiers
80% say banking products for
SMEs are not readily available
85% said there is little
tolerance for risk or failure