Digital Divide: A Challenge for Cooperation and Development

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Digital Divide A Challenge for Cooperation and
Development

• Prof. Driss Alaoui Mdaghri
• United Nations
• November 10th 2005

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The Digital Divide Phenomenon

• a bipolarisation phenomenon between economic
  contexts that are in, or those who participate,
  and contexts that are out (Castells, 2000)
• the unequal capacity of countries to reap the
  benefits derived from the diffusion and the
  appropriate use of Information and Communication
  Technologies (ICTs)

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The Digital Divide Phenomenon

• a growing asymmetry in the capacity of firms,
  institutions and individuals, operating in
  different countries, to act with effectiveness,
  through the intensive use of ICTs, in order to
  create competitive and innovative models,
  processes and strategies.
• the Digital Divide becomes then, the expression
  of an asymmetry in the access to knowledge and in
  the capacity to apply knowledge in order to
  renovate radically the models, processes, and the
  dynamics of development.

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The New Paradigms of the Knowledge-based Economy

• recognising knowledge as key factor for economic
  growth in the short/medium term, as the
  investments in knowledge are characterised with
  increasing returns
• assuming knowledge as a endogenous
  variable/factor of the production function as
  the investments in knowledge increase the
  productivity of the other factors of production
• recognising the inseparability between the
  investments in human capital and the investments
  in technologies, due to the nature of ICTs that
  represent the strategic lever of the new
  organisation of production and markets in the
  globalisation era

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The New Paradigms of the Knowledge-based Economy

• diffusion and appropriability at low costs of the
  knowledge resource, available globally, due to
  the development of digital networks
• the opportunity that the impediments of economic
  growth, due to the scarcity of capital, could be
  reduced through the effect of spill-over of
  knowledge possessed by a firm/sector to an
  another
• the strong interdependence between international
  economic systems the intensity and the variety
  of this interdependence can increase so highly
  and get transformed consequently into a direct
  relationship between local economy and global
  economy.

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The Dynamics of the Knowledge-based Economy

• Globalisation
• Digital Networking
• Cross-fertilisation

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Risks of the Digital Divide

• Scarce active participation to the process of
  globalisation
• Persistent isolation of regional areas as
  regards the networking dynamics
• Limited productivity of traditional industry
  sectors.

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Digital Divide Indicators The Case of the
Mediterranean Area

• Networked Readiness Index 2003-2004 (NRI)
• Knowledge Economy Index 2004 (KEI)

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Digital Divide Indicators The Case of the
Mediterranean Area
(Source Global Technology Information Report
2003-2004)
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Digital Divide Indicators The Case of the
Mediterranean Area
(Source Knowledge Economy Index 2004)
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Risks of the Digital Divide

• the world economy as an economy in
  disequibrium, in which a net bifurcation
  persists between impoverishment scenarios of some
  countries, and extraordinary development of
  others.

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Actions to Overcome or at Least Reduce the
Digital Divide

• recommendations to overcome the Digital Divide
  have been formulated in a Declaration and an
  Action Plan in occasion of the World Summit on
  the Information Society (Geneva 2003) to advance
  the achievement of the internationally-agreed
  development goals, including those in the
  Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus
  and the Johannesburg Declaration and Plan of
  Implementation by promoting the use of ICT-based
  products, networks, services and applications,
  and to help countries reduce the technological
  gap.

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Actions to Overcome or at Least Reduce the
Digital Divide

• investments in technological capital but also in
  human capital
• form human resources (skills and competences)
  that are able to acquire knowledge and technical
  competences and hence manage the structural
  change provoked by the digital revolution, govern
  the modernisation processes and conceive
  innovative ICT-based and context-specific
  solutions.
• knowledge-based economy people-economy
  minded-economy (Castells, 2000)

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Actions to Overcome or at Least Reduce the
Digital Divide

• The modalities through which human resources are
  created and more in general intellectual
  capital (Human capital, structural capital,
  social capital) is developed, become the crucial
  feature of any strategy of development.
• Reducing the Digital Divide requires then the
  development of national policies and
  international cooperation initiatives, that are
  based not only on the development of
  technological infrastructures (mobile and fixed
  phone networks, Internet, satellite connections
  etc.), but also on setting-up innovative
  modalities for intellectual capital creation,
  through partnerships between institutional,
  academic and industrial actors and investments in
  young talents.

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Actions to Overcome or at Least Reduce the
Digital Divide

• The modalities through which human resources are
  created and more in general intellectual
  capital (Human capital, structural capital,
  social capital) is developed, become the crucial
  feature of any strategy of development.
• Reducing the Digital Divide requires then the
  development of national policies and
  international cooperation initiatives, that are
  based not only on the development of
  technological infrastructures (mobile and fixed
  phone networks, Internet, satellite connections
  etc.), but also on setting-up innovative
  modalities for intellectual capital creation,
  through partnerships between institutional,
  academic and industrial actors and investments in
  young talents.

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Actions to Overcome or at Least Reduce the
Digital Divide

• all stakeholders have an important role to play
  in the knowledge-based economy, especially
  through partnerships (Plan Action, WSIS, 2003)
• Governments have a leading role in developing and
  implementing comprehensive, forward looking and
  sustainable national e-strategies. The private
  sector and civil society, in dialogue with
  governments, have an important consultative role
  to play in devising national e-strategies.
• The commitment of the private sector is important
  in developing and diffusing ICTs, for
  infrastructure, content and applications. The
  private sector is not only a market player but
  also plays a role in a wider sustainable
  development context.

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Actions to Overcome or at Least Reduce the
Digital Divide

• The commitment and involvement of civil society
  is equally important in creating an equitable
  knowledge-based economy, and in implementing
  ICT-related initiatives for development.
• International and regional institutions,
  including international financial institutions,
  have a key role in integrating the use of ICTs in
  the development process and making available
  necessary resources for building the
  knowledge-based economy and for the evaluation of
  the progress made.

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The Case of the Mediterranean School of Advanced
Studies in e-Business Management

• Initiative between the Scuola Superiore ISUFI
  University of Lecce (Italy) and Al Akhawayn
  University in Ifrane (Morocco)
• Initiative open to Maghreb Countries with two
  Poles
• 1st Pole in Ifrane to incubate young talents to
  lead business innovation ICT-driven
• 2nd Pole in Casablanca to implement ICT-driven
  innovation and change for Mediterranean
  operators, mainly SMEs

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The Case of the Mediterranean School of Advanced
Studies in e-Business Management
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Thank you very much for your attention!dam_at_casan
et.net.ma