Software plays a critical role in today’s global information economy. It runs the computers, networks, and devices that enable countless products and services. Software varies in size from vast enterprise and communications systems like the enormous enterprise resource planning system from SAP to the tiny app Angry Birds. This book offers a profile of the software industry and the companies in the industry. It describes the primary products and services produced; reviews its history; explains how the industry is structured; discusses its economics and competitive environment; and examines important trends and issues including globalization, workforce, regulation, and the emergence of new software business models. Software runs the computers and networks that support the flow of information in the global economy, and this book provides a real look at the intricacies of this industry.

Launched in May 2011, the new global magazine Southern Innovator is about the people across the global South shaping our new world, eradicating poverty and working towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They are the innovators. Issue 1 covered the theme of mobile phones and information technology. Issue 2 covered the theme of youth and entrepreneurship. Issue 3 covered the theme of agribusiness and food security. Issue 4 covered the theme of cities and urbanization. Issue 5 covers the theme of waste and recycling.

Launched in May 2011, the new global magazine Southern Innovator (ISSN 2222-9280) is about the people across the global South shaping our new world, eradicating poverty and working towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They are the innovators. Follow the magazine on Twitter @SouthSouth1. If you would like hard copies of the magazine for distribution, then please contact the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (www.southerninnovator.org). Learn about the Global South-South Development Expo here: www.southsouthexpo.org.

Development Challenges, South-South Solutions is the monthly e-newsletter for the United Nations Development Programme’s South-South Cooperation Unit (www.southerninnovator.org). It has been published every month since 2006.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th IFIP WG 9.4 International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, ICT4D 2017, held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in May 2017. The 60 revised full papers and 8 short papers presented together with 3 keynotes were carefully reviewed and selected from 118 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: large scale and complex information systems for development; women empowerment and gender justice; social mechanisms of ICT-enabled development; the data revolution and sustainable development goals; critical perspectives on ICT and open innovation for development; the contribution of practice theories to ICT for development; agile development; indigenous local community grounded ICT developments; global sourcing and development; sustainability in ICT4D; and information systems development and implementation in Southeast Asia. Also included are a graduate student track, current issues and notes. The chapter ‘An Analysis of Accountability Concepts for Open Development’ is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license via link.springer.com.

This book evaluates the uneven propagation of technological revolutions, investigating the roots of this phenomenon in the absorptive capabilities that are built by countries and regions at the periphery. To understand this global process, this book looks to two dimensions: time and geography. Temporally, the book follows the sequence of technological revolutions in the last 250 years. With regard to geography, the book studies five different regions at the periphery—China, India, Africa, Russia and Latin America—to understand how they differ in the institutional processes that shape their absorptive capabilities. Focusing on each technological revolution and its impact on those five peripheric regions, the chapters illustrate how each region coped with each shock wave emanating from the center. Providing a truly global outlook of a complex system with a dynamic nature, this book will be of interest to researchers and students of development economics, the economics of innovation, evolutionary economics, and the economics of science and technology.

This title was first published in 2003. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are increasingly being recognized as vital to the economic growth and global inclusion and participation of developing countries. This book brings together both academics and practitioners to provide a comprehensive and insightful overview of ICT and development around the world. It examines the role of IT in providing new economic and industrial opportunities, in increasing access to global information and communication, in assisting small cultural and ethnic groups to overcome disadvantages of physical distance and in catalysing initiatives towards democratic decentralization and empowerment of citizens. It also critically appraises major problems such as inappropriate focus and resource allocation, and of missed opportunities. By combining comparative case studies from Africa, South and East Asia, South America and Eastern Europe with theoretical analysis, this volume synthesizes a range of issues related to the evident tensions that exist for developing countries as they try to balance global and local priorities through the adoption and use of ICTs.