Wiring the Third World

New technologies like the Internet and mobile phones could accelerate
progress in developing countries. But the first priority is education,
access and entrepreneurs
By Klaus Schwab

You can't eat computers – and you can't prevent malaria with software. The
debate over the so-called digital divide has taken many forms. It's not a
new discussion, or a new global issue. It is, perhaps, more like a social
and economic challenge with a new name – and with different actors and an
invigorating sense of optimism.

In the early 1980s, social scientist Ithiel de Sola Pool said that the
creative potential for reform, change and real progress was "inherent in the
new technologies". But as critics have pointed out, these "new technologies"
cannot have meaningful impact unless they are available and accessible to
broad population groups.

Entering a new millennium, innovative technologies and regulatory policies
have brought down the cost of computing and telephony to affordable levels,
and the Internet and bundled communications services have reached formerly
remote and traditionally disenfranchised areas.

Soon, "telecentres" and hand-held communications devices will provide
further tools for individual and national empowerment. These developments,
in turn, will have profound social, cultural and political ramifications.

If government leaders, digital pioneers and business entrepreneurs focus
their attention on creative applications for these new technologies, the
world will soon have tools that:

- Link hospitals, schools and libraries to the Internet so they can exchange
information, thereby improving education and healthcare capabilities;

- Create online "town meetings", where extended communities can debate
issues and expand democratic participation;

- Electronically link local consumers and producers with global counterparts
to exchange information, conduct business and promote job creation within
the local economy.

But three key issues need to be addressed before such benefits can be
realised.

First, a broad segment of the population needs access to the communications
tools and systems. In most cases, this means access to basic communication
infrastructure and enabling services, such as reliable electric power.
Increasing the number of service providers is a first step towards making
the Internet available to people in cities and hard-to-reach rural areas,
and a pro-competitive regulatory environment can encourage this development.

Second, education must be an absolute political and social priority.
Children must be given the tools that will allow them to flourish as
productive citizens in the digital future. Basic education and technical
training must become a top priority on the global agenda. But adult
education and technical retraining must also be emphasised if old
economies – and developing economies – are to compete in the Information
Age.

A culture of entrepreneurship is the third element. Entrepreneurs provide
the catalyst for growth in market-based economies. They turn challenges into
opportunities and a culture that encourages entrepreneurship, enhances
competitiveness and stimulates investment is an indispensable component of a
successful 21st century economy.

A nation's competitiveness is related to its capacity for entrepreneurship,
specifically in the creation and application of communication tools.

The US, for example, has achieved significant growth rates in productivity
in recent years as a result of its leadership in the innovation and
application of new technologies. Without a culture of entrepreneurship, such
advances in productivity would not have been possible.

Speaking to a group of business leaders at the recent Asia-Pacific Economic
Co-operation (APEC) forum in Brunei, US President Bill Clinton summed up the
entrepreneurial challenge confronting both the developed and the developing
world. "To maximise potential, we must turn the digital divide among and
within our nations into digital opportunities," he declared.

Recognising the importance of the new Internet Economy, China's Foreign
Minister, Tang Jiaxuan, said his nation had no intention of being left
behind. "E-commerce in Asia is expected to account for 25 per cent of the
world's total by the year 2003, promising huge business opportunities," he
said at the APEC conference. "If we don't want to let these opportunities
slip away, we must seek a balanced development of the new economy and bridge
the digital divide."

While the fibre that travels beneath the earth to send digital bits from one
end of the world to another will not feed a child, it does provide an
infrastructure that can enable a brighter tomorrow. As developed countries
have already seen, a flourishing IT sector can dramatically increase
individual, corporate and national wealth, which can, in turn, raise living
standards in all segments of the economy.

Successful technology pioneers also comprise the newest generation of
philanthropists and social entrepreneurs, creating social benefits that
extend far beyond geographical and cultural borders.

A taskforce of the World Economic Forum is now focusing on ways that
information and communication technologies can transform the digital divide
into an opportunity for economic growth in the developing world.

The global digital divide taskforce was launched at last year's annual
meeting of the forum in Davos by chief executives from the world's leading
technology and communications companies, and includes representatives from a
broad spectrum of stakeholder groups. It has since met at locations around
the world to develop and test a framework for action. At the request of the
government of Japan, a document summarising the taskforce's recommendations
was submitted to the G8 heads of government at the Kyushu-Okinawa Summit
last Summer. As a result, leaders of the developed world have created their
own taskforce, called the Digital Opportunity Taskforce, or "DOT Force".

At its next annual meeting, which will take place in Davos at the end of
January, the World Economic Forum key stakeholders will plan how to "bridge
the divides" – including the digital divide – and sketch a framework for a
global future.

The digital divide will not be their only topic, however. The top business
and political leaders, concerned citizens and creative thinkers at the
meeting will also consider the issues in the context of competing global
priorities. They will try to balance short-term necessities with long-term
needs, bold visions with more pragmatic considerations. Whether schoolbooks
or laptop computers are more urgently required by children, for example, or
if water treatment facilities are needed before ISDN lines.

The choices aren't easy, and the risks are high. But working together, the
major stakeholders in society can help plot a better future, and create new
opportunities for growth, empowerment and economic progress.

Klaus Schwab is the founder and president of the World Economic Forum, which
hosts its annual meetings every January in Davos, Switzerland