What concepts are found in the title ICT in Development?

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are transforming societies and fueling the growth of the global economy.  Yet despite the broad potential of ICTs, their benefits have not been spread evenly.  Indeed, using ICTs effectively to foster social inclusion and economic growth is among the key challenges facing policymakers today.

ICTs promote development across many dimensions.  At their most fundamental level, ICTs enable organizations to be more productive, thereby spurring economic growth and helping firms be more competitive.  ICTs can also expand the reach and effectiveness of social development projects and have already yielded important benefits in such areas as healthcare, education, and environmental preservation.  Public-sector uptake of ICTs is also making governments more efficient and their decision-making more transparent.  Finally, many developing countries have achieved important economic gains in nurturing the development of domestic ICT industries.

Some of the concepts that are found in the title ICT in Development include:  

1. ICTs as Drivers of Economic and Productivity Growth. An economy’s ability to increase productivity is a powerful measure of its economic well-being.  Gains in productivity allow firms to raise wages without raising prices, thereby creating real, non-inflationary income growth (wage increases funded solely by higher prices, by contrast, provide no net gain in consumer purchasing power and no real economic growth).  Thus, the surest path to sustainable economic growth is for organizations to invest in assets that increase productivity.  
   
2. ICTs as Enablers of Social Development. Perhaps the most impressive examples of ICT’s potential to promote development have occurred in the context of development projects targeting social inclusion and cohesion – projects that provide excluded communities with greater opportunities to participate in community life.   Because many of the challenges facing traditionally undeserved communities result at least in part from inadequate access to knowledge and information, ICTs can help surmount these challenges by making it easier and less expensive to collect, analyze, and disseminate information to the people who need it.  The Internet in particular is creating nearly endless opportunities for individuals and communities in developing countries to obtain knowledge and communicate with others. 
3. ICTs as Enablers of Good Governance. Like other organizations, governments increasingly are leveraging the power of ICTs to operate more efficiently and effectively.  For instance, many governments in both developed and developing countries are working to migrate paper-based documents and records into digital format, and are even beginning to “link up” databases of these records for use between various departments.  These efforts are making governments more responsive and making it easier for citizens to access public records, information, and services through the Internet.