1. Should development support focus on affordable access for the ‘next billion’ or the ‘bottom’ billion? It is estimated that ⅓ of the world population (2.7 billion) is not connected as of early 2021. The next billion are easier to connect, as they are likely to be closer to networks and have basic digital literacy skills compared to the bottom billion who will certainly sink further down the poverty line without digital inclusion.

This choice between supporting the ‘next’ or the ‘bottom’ billion of global citizens will have far-reaching consequences on poverty reduction and realisation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially SDG 1 on poverty reduction.

Survey of the population without digital access

Source: Internet World Stats

2. How to evolve digitalisation from a ‘shy’ aspect of Agenda 2030 to the cross-cutting and invisible ‘18th SDG’?  As illustrated in this SDG/digital mapping, meeting the 2030 SDGs increasingly depends on how digital technology is being deployed. Digitalisation and Agenda 2030 must progress at different speeds.

Some SDGs are ‘more digital’ than others, such as SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) which have a correlation of 73% and 71% with digital technology according to a study by Huawei and GeSI. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased dependence on digital networks across all SDGs. In 2022, the development communities must sync this changing reality with their plans, projects, and priorities.

3. How to make ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’ approach to digitalisation more harmonised? While it is certain that digital technology has improved the conditions of many, it is also certain that some boats have raised much faster. Thus, digitalisation has become one of the main engines of inequalities (SDG 10) from local to global level.

As an illustration, the market capitalisation of Apple (3 trillion USD) is higher than the total GDP of African continents (in the range of 2.6 trillion USD). See more comparisons (open on a private device due to firewall). Ensuring that the benefits of digital technologies are more widely spread remains a challenge for 2022 and beyond.

4. How to prevent the widening of digital gaps with advancements in AI, big data, quantum computing, and other frontier technologies? Many developing countries do not have the technical, economic, institutional, and human capacities to keep up with the latest developments. As frontier technologies are much more demanding in terms of hardware, processing power, and expertise, it is likely that the gap between developed and developing countries will become wider than with web technologies.

5. How to minimise the negative impact on development assistance of the emerging ‘digital cold war’ between the USA and China? As tensions between the two digital powers accelerate, developing countries will face increasingly complex situations of having to choose between competing technologies, standards, and approaches provided by the two countries.

The first glimpse of this tension was the Trump administration’s request for developing countries not to use Huawei technologies for their 5G networks. In the context of these geopolitical tensions, multilateral solutions for cybersecurity, standards, and digital governance will become even more important for small and developing countries.

Migration: Gathering, managing and protecting data got in the focus. UNHCR and the World Bank established the Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement (JDC). The JDC Strategy for 2021-2023 describes how the Center prioritises its engagements to improve the protection and well-being of populations affected by forced displacement through better data and evidence. A growing concern is about mismanagement of data including alleged cases from Canada, Australia, UK and UNHCR.

Digital health: More calls for digital health inclusion; discussions advance on implementing the WHO’s Global Strategy on Digital Health; as innovation in digital tech continues, authorities pay more attention to regulatory issues;  the GIP hosted a debate on health and AI.

Water management: Governmental funds allocated to water technology research; IGOs partner with tech companies to leverage water technology solutions.

Environment: The Policy Network on Environment of the Internet Governance Forum published a study on digitalisation and the environment. The environment has been one of the main tracks of the Internet Governance Forum, held in December. The Geneva Internet Platform organised a debate on digitalisation powering environmental protection.

Inequalities: recurring acknowledgements that digital inequalities – widened by the pandemic –  persist across geography, income, and gender; statistics show a connectivity ‘grand canyon’: 96% of the 2.9 billion people still offline live in the developing world; digital inequalities also among critical short- and medium-term threats to the world.  

An interplay between technology and development was in the focus of the debate hosted by the GIP on 15 December 2021. Diplomats and tech experts addressed the following questions: digital innovation, data management, algorithms for healthcare, education, logistics for urban development, climate change, women’s empowerment, digital divide and risks of widening social inequalities.

You can follow this debate as well as other relevant resources on technology and development at the GIP Digital Watch.