IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Several things became clear during the privatisation process of Telstra in the last decade. Broadband quality was below the international benchmark, end-user and wholesale prices were above that mark and there was no economically viable business case for high-speed broadband infrastructure for regional and rural Australia.

Coinciding with the debate around these issues was the arrival of the GFC and the government’s decision to change its broadband infrastructure plan from a regional to a national one. It also linked that to the development of the digital economy and launched supporting policies in e-commerce, e-health, e-education and smart grid, all aimed at utilising the NBN for those purposes.

The report, titled "A Snapshot of Australia's Digital Future to 2050", says information and communications technology underpinned by ubiquitous high-speed broadband will transform the economy to such an extent that Australia will no longer be known for its dependence on the export of natural resources over the next half-century.

These technology platforms will support the state’s foray into a “digital future,” and are seen as areas of strategic importance.

Funding for these platforms will be drawn from the Digital Futures Fund. This DFF initiative brings together peak government bodies, as well as industry and R&D partners.

Australia 3.0 is a unique opportunity for all sections of industry and commerce to debate how the Australian economy can best be transformed to significantly increase productivity and competitiveness to secure a prosperous future. Through working with the major sectors in our economy to identify their critical issues and work with the ICT industry can we remove barriers to innovation that is so vital for Australia's future.

Azerbaijan has made significant progress in the development of its Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector in recent years. The government has implemented a range of policies and initiatives aimed at promoting innovation, expanding access to technology, and driving economic growth.

One of the key factors driving the development of ICT in Azerbaijan is the government's focus on modernizing and diversifying the economy. This has involved a range of measures, including investment in infrastructure, regulatory reform, and the establishment of special economic zones and technology parks.

Having appeared not so long ago, the digital economy has already become one of the main ways through which many entrepreneurs and governments all over the world do their work.

The term, originated in 1995, refers to an economy that is based on digital computing technologies. In this new type of economy, digital networking and communication infrastructures provide a global platform where people and organizations devise strategies, interact, communicate and collaborate.

A successful government is judged by its capacity to turn policy into action, but a capable government can only be enabled by a wide variety of parameters — a crucial one being a country’s political stability.

Digital transformation is the cornerstone of Bahrain’s economic development. In the next three years, Bahrain is expected to spend $2.1 billion on developing its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. The country has been an early adopter of advanced technologies, enabling widespread digital transformation in its public and private sectors. Empowered by its Vision 2030, the Kingdom is inching closer to its goal of becoming the region’s ICT hub.

By joining the new Digital Cooperation Organisation, Bahrain has reaffirmed its commitment to the development of its digital economy to further empower economic diversification, especially in a post-pandemic world. However, as the Kingdom continues to build its digital economy and implements new and innovative technologies, it also faces sophisticated and complex cybersecurity challenges.

Things have changed a lot in Bangladesh in the last two decades. Bangladesh is now experiencing high-speed ICT development and the changes in the ICT sector are remarkable.

Here we are having a number of digital inclusions like picking a ride within a minute just by tapping our phone. We can buy gadgets, lifestyle products or even order pizza online while sitting on our cozy couch in between watching movies.

"To achieve economic improvement by removing all these constraints the government has taken the plan to digitalise the country by 2021," a senior official of the ministry of information and communication technology (MICT) told the FE.

"Our aim is to get our new generations used to tapping technology," Sheikh Hasina said, inaugurating a convention of ICT-related experts of Asia, 'E-Asia 2011' at Bangabandhu International Convention Centre in Dhaka on Thursday.

She added that if the young generation receives proper education on information technology, it will play a role in creating jobs at home and abroad.

"We want to turn the country's young generation into human resources as there is a huge demand of such manpower at home and abroad," she said, adding it would contribute significantly to the export of human resources.

While inaugurating the 5th e-Asia, the premiere ICT event of Asia, the Prime Minister also said 20,000 more multimedia classrooms will be set up in the country by 2012 in line with the present government's 'Digital Bangladesh' programme.

To become a developed nation by 2041, we need to adapt to the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Over the last few decades, the decline in fertility and mortality rates in Bangladesh and subsequent increase in the working-age population (15-59) considered as “demographic dividend” relative to the dependents (0-14 and 60+) offer the country an opportunity to accelerate economic growth.

While diamond mining has long been a mainstay of Botswana’s economy, the Southern African nation is turning its attention to cutting-edge technologies to help grow and diversify its economy.

This is according to Botswana communications, knowledge and technology minister Thulagano Segokgo, speaking during a high-level media roundtable on the sidelines of MWC Barcelona 2023.

Alberta’s rural employers are committed to innovation, growth, and digital transformation to compete with urban employers in attracting and retaining workers as digital technologies increasingly permeate sectors like agriculture, energy, and manufacturing.

Digital technologies have become increasingly important to the Alberta economy in recent years, with noticeable growth in the number of software, energy technology, and clean technology companies. Most of this activity has been in the province’s two largest cities. But rural communities are also essential to Alberta’s economy, attracting 41% of the public and private investment in the province and producing 26% of the province’s GDP. Moreover, rural employers face talent shortages due to senior-level rural worker retirements, rural youth and skilled talent migration to urban centres, and a lack of local digital skills training, among other factors.

This program has been envisaged by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) and will impact the ministry of communications & IT, ministry of rural development, ministry of human resource development, ministry of health and others.

The union cabinet has approved sanctions for Digital India, a campaign intended to transform the nation into digital empowered society and knowledge economy, with a cost of Rs 113,000 crore.

Given its increasing potential to provide social and economic benefits to societies, bridging the digital divide has become a priority for governments around the world.

This is especially true for major developing countries like Indonesia, India and China, due to ICT’s ability to connect a vast and diverse population at a speed faster than traditional infrastructure can offer. ICT can be a motor for enhancing public services such as education and health care, as well as promoting entrepreneurship and the growth of the small and medium enterprises that often dominate an emerging country’s business landscape.

A release from the Caribbean Community Secretariat (Caricom) explained that a strategy is required to develop the framework for a Regional Broadband Policy, which is viewed as critical for advancing the Caricom Single Market and Economy and facilitating regional development.

"To fully succeed in, and become a sub-regional hub of digital transformation, Cameroon must very quickly move on costs, access, quality of services and on improving the sector's competitiveness, while having its sight set on job-creation and accelerating innovation ".

These are the words of Antonio Pedro, Director of the Subregional Office for Central Africa of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), during a consultation with various stakeholders of Cameroon's digital transition project, moderated by ECA's Economic Affairs Officer Mactar Seck, and chaired by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications of Cameroon, Ms. Minette Libom Li Likeng, this Thursday at the ECA premises in Yaounde.

More than half of Hong Kong’s workforce believe that their jobs are under threat from the rapid growth of the digital economy, while over 40% feel that they do not have the right skills to compete in it, a survey has found.

The survey was conducted by tech consultants IDC for Workday, a major provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, and it polled over 1,400 employees from eight Asia-Pacific countries to assess their attitudes towards the digital economy.