Mobile phones are close to ubiquitous in developing countries; Internet and broadband access are becoming commonplace. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) thus represent the fastest, broadest and deepest technical change experienced in international development. They now affect every development sector – supporting the work of hundreds of millions of farmers and micro-entrepreneurs; creating millions of ICT-based jobs; assisting healthcare workers and teachers; facilitating political change; impacting climate change; but also linked with digital inequalities and harms – with the pace of change continuously accelerating. Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) provides the first dedicated textbook to examine and explain these emerging phenomena. It will help students, practitioners, researchers and other readers understand the place of ICTs within development; the ICT-enabled changes already underway; and the key issues and interventions that engage ICT4D practice and strategy. The book has a three-part structure. The first three chapters set out the foundations of ICT4D: the core relation between ICTs and development; the underlying components needed for ICT4D to work; and best practice in implementing ICT4D. Five chapters then analyse key development goals: economic growth, poverty eradication, social development, good governance and environmental sustainability. Each chapter assesses the goal-related impact associated with ICTs and key lessons from real-world cases. The final chapter looks ahead to emerging technologies and emerging models of ICT-enabled development. The book uses extensive in-text diagrams, tables and boxed examples with chapter-end discussion and assignment questions and further reading. Supported by online activities, video links, session outlines and slides, this textbook provides the basis for undergraduate, postgraduate and online learning modules on ICT4D.

Examines the impact IT has on politics, education, sociology, and technology. Focuses on the benefits of IT for developing countries, whose problems must be solved, and obstacles overcome in order to further IT advancement.

Information Communication Technology and Economic Development provides a quick and broad overview of the Indian ICT sector. With its exhaustive examination of the business management and industrial organisation of the ICT sector, it is a particularly useful tool for any researcher or policy analyst interested in a thorough analysis of the mechanics of the sector and the Indian context within which it operates. Syud Amer Ahmed, Papers in Regional Science India has become a highly visible participant in the information communication technology (ICT) industry. Since the 1990s, it has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world, emerging as the most watched test of global capitalism. The contributors to this volume examine how the ICT-driven development of India appears to have skipped the middle stages of the traditional economic development models and leapfrogged directly to the final stage whereby growth is mostly technologically driven. Information Communication Technology and Economic Development reveals new insights regarding the complex process of globalization. It shows how the generation and circulation of intellectual capital in the US and India in ICT have led to greater productivity in the US while facilitating the economic development of India. Most industrialized nations now see the vast intellectual capital-based services that India provides at extremely competitive rates as key to their own national competitiveness in the global arena. The contributors findings suggest that India s ICT-led growth will accelerate in the next ten years, launching India as a major global economic power next to the US and China. This provocative and timely volume will be a necessary read for students and scholars of international business, public policy, economic development, management and strategy as well as all those interested in the impact of globalization on national and regional economies.

The Information and Communications for Development series looks in depth at how information and communications technologies are affecting economic growth in developing countries. This new report, the fourth in the series, examines the topic of data-driven development, or how better information makes for better policies. The objective is to assist developing-country firms and governments in unlocking the value of the data they hold for better service delivery and decision making and to empower individuals to take more control of their personal data. We are undoubtedly experiencing a data revolution in which our ability to generate, process, and utilize information has been magnified many times over by the machines that we increasingly rely upon. This report is about how the data revolution is changing the behavior of governments, individuals, and firms and how these changes affect the nature of development: economic, social, and cultural. How can governments extract value from data to improve service delivery in the same way that private companies have learned to do for profit? Is it feasible for individuals to take ownership of their own data and to use it to improve their livelihoods and quality of life? Can developing-country firms compete with the internet majors on their own turf and be even more innovative in their use of data to serve local customers better? Though the report is aimed primarily at government policy makers, it also has great relevance for individuals concerned about how their personal data is used and how the data revolution might affect their future job prospects. For private sector firms, particularly those in developing countries, the report suggests how they might expand their markets and improve their competitive edge. For development professionals, the report provides guidance on how they might use data more creatively to tackle long-standing global challenges, such as eliminating extreme poverty, promoting shared prosperity, or mitigating the effects of climate change. The report's chapters explore different themes associated with the supply of data, the technology underlying it, and the demand for it. An overview chapter focuses on government use of data and presentation of definitions. Part I of the report then looks at the "supply side" of the data sector, with chapters on data connectivity and capacity (where data comes from, how it is stored, and where it goes) and data technology (specifically big data analytics and artificial intelligence) and how this is contributing to development. Part II looks at the sector's "demand side," with a chapter on people's use of data and another that examines how firms use digital platforms in the data economy and how that contributes to competitiveness. Part III brings together the policy implications for developing-country stakeholders, with a chapter considering government policies for data, including data protection and privacy. A closing Data Notes appendix looks at statistical indicators associated with the use of data and presents the 2018 update of the Digital Adoption Index (DAI), a composite indicator introduced in the 2016 World Development Report: Digital Dividends.

This book includes the best works presented at the scientific and practical conference that took place on February 1, 2018 in Pyatigorsk, Russia on the topic “Perspectives on the use of New Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Modern Economy”. The conference was organized by the Institute of Scientific Communications (Volgograd, Russia), the Center for Marketing Initiatives (Stavropol, Russia), and Pyatigorsk State University (Pyatigorsk, Russia). The book present the results of research on the complex new information and communication technologies in the modern economy and law as well as research that explore limits of and opportunities for their usage. The target audience of this book includes undergraduates and postgraduates, university lecturers, experts, and researchers studying various issues concerning the use of new information and communication technologies in modern economies. The book includes research on the following current topics in modern economic science: new challenges and opportunities for establishing information economies under the influence of scientific and technical advances, digital economy as a new vector of development of the modern global economy, economic and legal aspects of using new information and communication technologies in developed and developing countries, priorities of using the new information and communication technologies in modern economies, platforms of communication integration in tourism using new information and communication technologies, and economic and legal managerial aspects and peculiarities of scientific research on the information society.

It is becoming known that information and communications technology has the potential to increase development in the areas of health, education, governance, and business in impoverished countries. Thus, new levels of integration and applications must be studied in order to expand this research area further. Sustainable ICT Adoption and Integration for Socio-Economic Development is a pivotal publication featuring the latest scholarly research on current updates regarding adoption, integration, and application of communication devices and applications across the various aspects of human progression. Highlighting a number of topics and perspectives such as inclusive education, e-governance, and e-democracy, this book is ideally designed for researchers, government officials, and academicians seeking current information on the application of new technological tools for both social and economic growth in various countries.

Information and communication technologies have expanded dramatically in Latin America. During the last two decades, mobile phones have penetrated more quickly in this region than in developed regions at a remarkable rate. Similarly, the per capita growth rates of Internet users have been higher in developing countries than in developed countries. The really fast diffusion of newer technologies such as mobile telephony, broadband and Internet has opened up big opportunities for using these technologies in the delivery of information in businesses and social service providers in Latin America and the Caribbean. 'Information Technologies in Latin America' provides a collection of rigorous empirical studies that contributes to a better understanding of the role and impact of old and new information technologies on Latin American economic development. It provides evidence using randomized and quasi-experimental designed studies for different ICT interventions. In evaluating their development impact a critical concern has been to contribute to the little existing evidence. In fact, whereas many ICT projects in the developing world have been promoted by multilateral organizations, bilateral aid agencies and nongovernmental organizations in recent years, the extent to which these interventions and policies actually contribute to the development of the region is unclear. The book provides evidence on what works and what does not. An important objective is to test one of the frustrating benefits of randomized controlled trials, namely, their ability to show that a program works when it does not and in fact, important policy lessons can be gained from failed field experiments. This collection of essays aims to provide valuable insight on both the promise and the pitfalls of trying to replace conventional, high-cost outreach with technological alternatives. Thus, it may be relevant both to researchers working in the area of information technologies and development, as well as to practitioners pondering how to leverage technology to improve outreach and reach clients in innovative ways.