Digital innovation has found its way into most nooks and crannies of modern life, and nowhere is this more so than in the emerging world. Indeed, without much of the legacy infrastructure that encumbers the western world, the developing world is a hotbed of innovation, with technology driving efficiency improvements and permitting rapid transformation.
So it perhaps stands to reason that the development community are taking particular notice of the latest digital trends. At the recent Brookings Blum Roundtable event, expects from across government, academia and the private sector explored some of the core innovations impacting the development world.
These discussions focused around:
- the adoption of digital payment systems
- the spread of both web connectivity and digital literacy
- the effective harnessing of data to serve the poor
The event aimed to explore how these trends were affecting the business of development, what risks and challenges these changes pose from a policy perspective, and just how scalable and inclusive the innovations are.
Prior to the roundtable, six essays were commissioned to set the scene, and they make fascinating reading. You can access them all via the links below.
- Will the digital revolution deliver for the world’s poor, Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Vice President Emeritus, IBM; Visiting Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Ending poverty with electronic payments, Michael Faye and Paul Niehaus, Co-Founders, GiveDirectly and Segovia Technology
- Networking the world for global opportunity, Alec Ross, Senior Fellow, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
- Will the spread of digital technologies spell the end of the knowledge divide, Deepak Mishra, Lead Economist, World Bank; Co-director, 2016 World Development Report on Internet and Development
- The future of work in the developing world, Marco Annunziata, Chief Economist, General Electric
- Foreign assistance in the digital age, Ann Mei Chang, Executive Director, U.S. Global Development Lab, U.S. Agency for International Development
