Leveraging the opportunities of the digital economy @ITU_DSG by Malcolm Johnson @ITU_DSG

One of the most far-reaching technologies in history Despite the high growth rates in developing countries and in LDCs, there are twice as many mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in developed countries as in developing countries, and four times as many in developed countries as in LDCs. In January 2018, ITU launched the report on ICTs, LDCs and the SDGs: Achieving universal and affordable Internet in the least developed countries. In the 47 LDCs, 4 out 5 people are still offline. At current growth, less than a quarter of the population of the LDCs will be online by 2020. The key barrier to getting LDC populations online is a lack of skills needed to use the internet, the report says, adding that policymakers have to address broader socio economic challenges that lie outside the ICT ecosystem, such as educational levels and gender equality.

A $23 trillion opportunity Worldwide, the combined information and communication services and ICT manufacturing sectors is responsible for an estimated 6.5 per cent of global GDP. About 100 million people worldwide are employed in ICT services. Source: UNCTAD, Information Economy Report 2017: Digitalization, Trade and Development

3.8 billion people are still not using the Internet

A lower proportion of women using the Internet in 2/3 of countries worldwide Less than two weeks ago, Digital Ministers of G20 countries released a Declaration where they recognized EQUALS. The Declaration reads: “Reaffirming our commitment to bridging the digital gender divide and building upon initiatives such as #eskills4girls and EQUALS, we emphasize that the integration of women in the digital economy supports stronger economic growth, inclusiveness and enhances well-being." The digital gender gap fell between 2013 and 2017 in developed countries, where more than 80 per cent of the population is now estimated to be online. The gap in developed countries is now estimated to be just 2.8 per cent. It is much more pronounced, at 16.1 per cent, in developing countries, where overall Internet access is 41.3 per cent, just over half the rate in developed countries. The digital gender gap is most pronounced, rising to 32.9 per cent, in LDCs, where overall Internet usage is lowest, including just 17.5 per cent of the population. In LDCs, only one out of seven women is using the Internet compared with one out of five men. The gender gap is also more pronounced in Africa, where the majority of LDCs are concentrated, than in other ITU regions. While the gap has fallen in other regions since 2013, it is estimated to have increased in Africa between 2013 and 2017, from 20.7 to 25.3 percentage points. This suggests that, while Internet access rates in Africa are currently increasing, men are disproportionately represented in that increase. Source: https://www.itu.int/en/ITU- D/Statistics/Documents/publications/misr2017/MISR2017_Volume1.pdf

85% of the world’s population is covered by at least 3G services, but less than 50% of people are connected A major gap remains between the degree of progress on ICT infrastructure for developed and developing nations. According to ITU statistics, 84% of households in developed countries have internet access, compared to 43% in developing countries and 15% in the least developed countries.

Nearly 600 private sector ITU members

Medical databases Mobile money Smart cities

2017 produced more data than the entire history of humanity

AI-powered technologies deployed on 6 billion smartphones by 2021 IoT is expanding exponentially, and it is estimated that 20 to 50 billion devices will be connected by 2020. IoT already has many applications to improve human lives and holds promise to offer many more solutions to address issues in healthcare (e.g. by monitoring patient data). According to GeSI, 1.6 billion people could be connected to e-health services in 2030, radically improving access to health and getting the world closer to universal health coverage.

AI health market to reach $6.6 billion by 2021 (Source: Accenture, 2017) Data analytics are certain to form a large part of the work of the new ITU Focus Group for AI for Health. AI systems are proving increasingly adept at interpreting laboratory results and medical imagery and extracting diagnostically relevant information from text or complex sensor streams.

Medical databases Mobile money Smart cities

“M-Pesa proves that when people are empowered, they will use digital tech to innovate on their own behalf.” (Bill Gates) M-Pesa currently has over 152,000 agents and more than 23 million subscribers in Kenya alone and serves over 30 million more subscribers in 10 different countries. Last year, the UK’s Vodafone Group transferred its 35% stake in Safaricom to its South African subsidiary Vodacom, a bid experts said was meant to help M-Pesa more easily spread its reach in Africa. To increase its competitiveness, Safaricom also diversified the use of M-Pesa as a payment platform investing in sectors including insurance, ride-hailing, music, e-commerce, besides launching an all-in-one social network that allows users to chat and send money. Source: Quartz Africa, 18 July 2018.

2 billion unbanked adults 1.6 billion of them have access to a mobile phone Two billion people, representing more than 40% of the world’s adults, are still excluded from the financial system. These people live primarily in developing countries and in rural areas. Women too remain under-represented in the financial system in developing countries. Digital financial services (DFS) offer great potential to meet the financial needs of poor and unbanked consumers.

Medical databases Mobile money Smart cities

IoT technologies expected to connect 50 billion devices to the network by 2020

Nearly 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050 The Thai Ministry of Digital Economy and Society is making progress in its implementation of the Pracharat internet connectivity project, which aims to provide equal access to government services, education, and public health. The program has successfully installed internet connectivity in almost 11,500 villages and plans to reach 24,700 villages by the end of the year. Source: Thailand’s Government Public Relations Department, 14 August 2017.

It’s time we start talking about smart villages

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