Going Digital: Shaping Policies, Improving Lives
Digital technologies and data are transformational. People, firms and governments live, interact, work and produce differently than in the past, and these changes are accelerating rapidly. How can we realise the immense promises of digital technologies and data for growth and well-being in a fast evolving world? This report charts the road ahead. It identifies seven policy dimensions that allow governments – together with citizens, firms and stakeholders – to shape digital transformation to improve lives. It also highlights key opportunities, challenges and policies related to each dimension, offers new insights, evidence and analysis, and provides recommendations for better policies in the digital age.
Foreword
Economies, governments and societies across the globe are going digital. Although already underway for nearly half a century, the pace of change has quickened, as digital technologies develop rapidly and combine in novel and innovative ways, pushing digital transformation in new and often unpredictable directions. At the same time, the further deployment of communications infrastructure, the proliferation of digital technologies such as smart phones that allow ubiquitous computing, and the generation of huge volumes of data of all kinds, are turning data into an important, strategic asset. Digital technologies and large-scale data flows fundamentally change how people live and work, interact with one another, participate in the economy, and engage with the government.