Insight Report
Our Shared Digital Future
Building an Inclusive,
Trustworthy and Sustainable
Digital Society
December 2018
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Contents
Foreword
4
Introduction: Digital Stewardship
7
Shared Goal 1: Leave No Person Behind
12
Shared Goal 2: Empower Users through Good Digital Identities
17
Shared Goal 3: Make Business Work for People
22
Shared Goal 4: Keep Everyone Safe and Secure
27
Shared Goal 5: Build new rules for a new game
32
Shared Goal 6: Break through the data barrier
39
Conclusion: The work starts today
44
Contributors
45
Endnotes
46
Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
3
Foreword
Jim Smith, Chief
Executive Officer,
Thomson Reuters;
Co-Chair, World
Economic
Forum System
Initiative on Digital
Economy and
Society
The Fourth Industrial Revolution has the power to reduce inequalities across the world. Doing so
depends on empowering everyone – regardless of geography, income, age or gender – and it requires
concerted action and greater collaboration across all players.
Lynn St
Amour, Chair,
Multistakeholder
Advisory Group,
UN Internet
Governance
Forum (IGF);
Co-Chair, World
Economic
Forum System
Initiative on Digital
Economy and
Society
As the world sprints towards bringing virtually all things online – to be captured, analysed and actioned
in an instant – we must ensure we are working towards the digital future that will benefit all. As we
mark the milestone of bringing half the world online, we must redouble our efforts to ensure access for
the remaining 50%. Stewardship of a global, inclusive society is everyone’s responsibility.
Derek
O’Halloran,
Head, System
Initiative on
Shaping the
Future of Digital
Economy and
Society, Member
of the Executive
Committee, World
Economic Forum
Each time we sign in, log on or connect a person or device to the digital world we exponentially grow
the next great technological revolution. More than a decade after the first iPhone® was introduced as
the “breakthrough internet communicator”, a brave new digital world powered by big data, artificial
intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), mobile and the cloud promises to profoundly change the
way we live, work and interact.
It is important to consider the geopolitical and social context we face today, as it both shapes the
development of technology and will be dramatically affected by technology. The rise of nationalism
and the proliferation of echo chambers have created fissures in the economic and political
interdependence that we once took for granted, as well as in the social constructs that underpin so
many of our daily activities.
There is a growing and profound lack of trust between individuals and institutions of all kinds; less than
50% of those connected today trust that technology will improve their lives. Social media continues
to bring disparate communities closer together yet polarizes them at the same time. We are reminded
daily of the alarming ease with which news and personal information can be abused and used to prop
up less-than-virtuous enterprises.
Our existing institutions, mechanisms and models are struggling to respond effectively to the pace
of change and its distributed nature. New collaborative efforts are emerging across the world –
processes that aim to build on both traditional strengths of host institutions but also draw in the
expertise of other sectors – whether that be business, governments, civil society or academia.
It is imperative that we do more to align, support and accelerate existing efforts where they exist and
to address gaps where they do not.
The following paper speaks to the urgency many of us feel about the need to work together,
make sense of the complexity, build on our common strengths and take agency in designing the
collaborative principles and models that will lead to a more empowered world.
Successful long-term stewardship is dependent on supporting everyone – irrespective of geography,
income, age or gender – in shaping and benefitting from the digital environment we all now share.
We hope that you will join us in this journey.
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Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
Perspectives from our stewards
“Over half of the global population is connected to the internet and has growing access to the sum total of human
knowledge at their fingertips. The internet will increasingly bring about ever more transformational changes for human
civilization. However, some of these changes will also bring unpredictable costs. We are just now beginning to better
understand this ‘Faustian bargain’.”
–– Al Gore, Co-Founder and Chairman, Generation Investment Management
“Digitalization is the most powerful force in our world today. It can bring profound benefits and empowerment, but only if
handled with care and responsibility. The shared vision and action plan proposed in our report shows a path to meeting this
future with confidence.”
–– Mario Greco, Group Chief Executive Officer, Zurich Insurance Group
“The internet is one of the greatest innovations in history, improving our access to information, commerce and each other
in a way that we’ve never been able to before. It continues to hold revolutionary promise for improving the lives of people in
even the most inaccessible parts of the world. This report makes clear how the stewards of the Internet’s development are
helping to make sure it lives up to its promise.”
–– Matthew Prince, Co-Founder and CEO, Cloudflare
“We are at a crossroads. More than half of the world’s population will be online by the end of 2018. Now is the time to
redouble our collective efforts to leave no one offline, and this timely report outlines shared goals for an inclusive, trusted
and sustainable digital future.”
–– Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, ITU
“By building on our national data and digital consultations, our government is identifying a path forward to create an
inclusive and trustful digital economy where our full innovation potential can be unleashed. However, building an inclusive,
trustworthy and sustainable digital society is truly global in scope. That’s why through our work on AI with our G7
counterparts, we will continue to collaborate with international partners to advance these important goals.”
–– Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development of Canada
“We need to maximize the benefits of digitalization to create an inclusive economy, close the inequality gap and improve
income distribution globally.”
–– Rudiantara, Minister of Communication and Information Technology of Indonesia
“The breadth of digital’s impact shows that this is not merely a challenge to be delegated to chief digital officers and others.
It represents more than a commercial opportunity. The Fourth Industrial Revolution demands that CEOs take responsibility
for the massive transformation of their businesses and for the extraordinary impact that this transformation will have on
wider society.”
–– Pierre Nanterme, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Accenture
“Governance frameworks need to allow enough flexibility to learn and to adapt in the face of rapid innovation, while not
leaving anyone behind.”
–– Doris Leuthard, Federal Councillor for the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications of Switzerland
“It is time we retire the term ‘digital economy’. There is only one economy, which is digitizing at varying speed. Therefore,
special regulatory regimes for digital businesses don’t make sense. We must develop agile and consistent policies that
apply to all actors in a changed market reality where technology and data are omnipresent.”
–– Gillian Tans, Chief Executive Officer, Booking.com
Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
5
“It is imperative that we bring broadband to all those who are not yet connected – and fast. In parallel, the technology,
business and regulatory ecosystems must all be aligned in order to accelerate adoption of the ‘industrial internet’ and
deliver the benefits of digital automation to a wide range of enterprises. This, done right, can provide an immense
productivity boost to economies.”
–– Rajeev Suri, President and Chief Executive Officer, Nokia
“We want everyone to thrive in the digital world - no one should be left behind. That means educating everyone on how to
keep themselves and their data safe online, which is something that we at Barclays are very passionate about. But it also
means ensuring universal access to a safe, secure and easy to use digital identity, so that everyone can confidently unlock
the benefits of the digital economy in the end.
–– Jes Staley, Barclays Group CEO
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Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
Introduction: Digital Stewardship
The case no longer needs to be made that technology is
changing the very fabric of our society.
Question 2: Which shared capabilities need to be
built in a digital society?
A dazzling array of new technologies holds the promise
of a future, a near-future or a present that until recently
existed only in science fiction. The possibilities seem to
be limited only by our imagination. New technologies
to sense, process and act upon information at scale
can drive economic growth and inclusion, empower
individuals, spark innovation and entrepreneurship,
improve health outcomes for all and enable a step
change in our ability to tackle shared societal challenges
such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The
potential to raise billions of people out of poverty and into
inclusive sustainable markets is within our grasp.
Any new technologies must be coupled with societal
adaptation – new societal capabilities – to successfully
manage and use the new tools. These technologies are no
different.
As is becoming increasingly apparent, however, with
opportunity comes risk. In 2018, concerns related to
cyberthreats, privacy, abuse of personal information,
market dominance, employment, fake news and
manipulation of democratic processes have increased.
Question 3: How can we collaborate effectively and at
scale to achieve our shared goals?
The opportunity is clear. The risks are becoming clearer.
However, while technology is the engine for these
changes, we are in the driving seat. Our collective
decisions and actions steer us towards a future that we
have the power to shape.
Taking these as the starting point, three critical questions
emerge.
Question 1: What kind of society do we want?
Technological developments have traditionally been
associated with enhancing efficiencies. In a world of
scarcity, and material gains wrought only through labour,
technology has been a means of advancing us along the
path of human progress, liberating more individuals from
precarious lives of subsistence or necessity.
We have a long way to go to provide for the basic needs
of all of our fellow human beings. In almost every domain,
we are seeing that digital technologies can provide a step
change in our ability to achieve this. Yet if technology
causes more problems than it solves, this will not
happen.
However, the tremendous power of Fourth Industrial
Revolution technologies forces us to address questions
beyond efficiency and the provision of material wealth. As
more ideas move from science fiction to science fact, we
are faced with new questions. In a world of abundance,
where we may have the technical ability to provide for all
– what kind of society do we want? The question is both
local, but also global – can the next wave of globalization
be different?
There is no shortage of attention, energy or initiatives to tackle
these challenges. However, while the landscape of activity is
rich, it is highly fragmented. It is fragmented both in terms of
the definitions of the problems being tackled and the disparate
array of institutions, processes and communities where those
discussions are taking place. Today, we lack the shared goals
and language that we take for granted in other domains.
This document is based on discussions that take these
questions as a starting point. The discussions have been
undertaken and led by a group of leaders from business,
civil society, academia, government and international
organizations from around the world, and supported by
a group of 20 experts from a variety of domains (see page
45). Each brings to bear different perspectives and broad
networks of practitioners. This document also draws
insights and inspiration from a range of communities who
are actively working on all of the issues explored – an
extended community of over 1,000 individuals globally, from
the Jordanian Women’s Empowerment Group to Digital
Ambassadors in Rwanda.
We hope that the resulting perspectives and references will be
helpful in our collective efforts to address the questions above.
They are shared in the spirit of open collaboration to be freely
used, adapted, iterated and improved over time.
An inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable digital
future
The global nature of the digital environment brings with it a
rich cultural and normative diversity, with different types of
stakeholders having different, often competing, interests.
Nevertheless, through our dialogues, all parties agreed on
three core and interdependent concepts about what we
want our future digital environment to look like.
First, our digital future must be inclusive. Inclusion does
not just refer to internet access and accessibility, but also
includes participating in the social and economic benefits
(outputs) and in opportunities to shape how technologies
impact our lives. The benefits accruing from technology
are exponential, and closing the digital divide will become
increasingly difficult. We risk embedding structural inequality
into our social and economic systems, condemning many to
intergenerational exclusion.
Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
7
Second, trust is the foundation for any and all interactions.
Without trust, we will not provide our information, exchange
goods or services or act upon the information given. In a digital
context, trust is created through effective and enforceable
privacy, security, accountability, transparency and participatory
practices. Increasingly, as more business and government
activity is mediated online, online trust and societal trust levels
correlate ever more strongly.
4. Keep everyone safe and secure: shaping norms
and practices that enable a technology-dependent
environment that is secure and resilient.
Finally, we need our digital world to be sustainable – in
societal, economic and environmental terms. This entails
not just business models that are economically viable, but
business practices that are socially sustainable. We need viable
investment models for innovation and shared infrastructure. If
returns on capital continue to systematically outstrip returns on
labour and other factors, the increasing concentration of wealth
and subsequent wealth divide is not socially sustainable. While
we are used to thinking of cyberspace as entirely virtual, the
energy requirements and material/waste management of the
physical infrastructure are subject to planetary boundaries.
6. Break through the data barrier: developing innovations
that allow us to benefit from data while protecting the
legitimate interests of all stakeholders.
(The first) six shared goals
Identifying and aligning shared goals can transform how
we see these efforts. Shared goals allow us to move from
fragmentation, confusion and a perception of overlapping
work to a network of ecosystems and communities, which
all make unique and complementary contributions that
collectively advance our efforts.
In order to realize this vision, there are a number of shared
capabilities where, as a global community, we will succeed
or fail together. Expressing these as shared goals allows
us to encourage, align and accelerate a wide range of
distributed activities. Shared goals provide strategic
direction and common purpose that can channel the
tremendous amounts of energy, investments, innovation
and collaboration already taking place.
Today, some of these capabilities are easier to articulate in
terms of quantifiable goals than others – for example, internet
access. However, defining more precisely what “good”
looks like and what metrics would be relevant are part of the
common work agenda in topics such as digital identity.
Our discussions revealed six initial areas where shared
goals would be beneficial to ensure an inclusive, trusted and
sustainable digital future.
The six areas provide a structure for this document and
create a framework for future dialogue and collaboration
on shaping the digital economy and society. There are
significant opportunities and major risks: much of the debate
is too one-sided – either over-optimistic or over-pessimistic
– and lacks precision on time frames. A core premise behind
this document is the need for a narrative that explains digital
opportunities and risks for stakeholders and citizens.
1. Leave no person behind: ensuring high-quality internet
access and adoption for all.
2. Empower users through good digital identities: ensuring
that everyone can participate in the digital society through
identity and access mechanisms that enable the user.
3. Make business work for people: helping companies
navigate digital disruption and evolve to new, responsible
business models and practices.
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Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
5. Build new rules for a new game: developing new,
flexible, outcome-based and participatory governance
mechanisms to complement traditional policy and
regulation.
Shaping the future together
Many institutions, fora, initiatives and communities
are already tackling these issues and more – building
collaboration, dialogue, innovation and partnerships.
Nevertheless, many feel today that the landscape is difficult
to navigate.
Progress to develop these shared capabilities will benefit
from the plurality of communities, perspectives, expertise
and solutions that these networks represent. We can
support, amplify and accelerate existing efforts, and identify
true gaps where we need to inspire new action.
In any plurality, there are and will be differences. Finding
ways to respect and navigate these differences is one
aspect of the tasks that will result in continued dialogue and
cooperation. However, there are broad and diverse areas
of common interest. On these, our task is to accelerate
effective collaboration and progress to ensure that our digital
world benefits not just us – who contribute and read these
words – but everyone.
Figure 1: Growing news volume on digital priorities (2014–2018)
news volume
March 2016
Apple lawyer, FBI director face off in
Congress on iPhone encryption
December 2016
US set to announce response to
Russian election hacking
topics
top keywords
Responsible
Digital Transformation
machine learning
Data-Sharing
keyword frequency
automation
job creation
iot
encryption
data protection
Security and Resilience
hacking
cybersecurity
cyberattacks
5G
Access and Adoption
internet access
digital divide
Agile Governance
big data
data privacy
internet governance
data privacy
Digital Identity
right to be forgotten
digital identity
2014
2015
2016
2017
April 2017
AT&T bets on 5G with Straight Path
Communications buy for $1.25 billion
Source: Thomson Reuters Labs
The path ahead
–– Progress of 5G network trials in China, South Korea and
the USA
A number of significant events and efforts are already being
planned for the year ahead, through international fora and
civil society. For example:
–– Progress of national digital identity implementations in
China, Africa and India
–– G20/B20 Summit, 28–29 June 2019, Japan
–– Next phase of measures for Japan’s Society 5.0
–– Internet Governance Forum, 25–29 November 2019,
Berlin, Germany
–– Progress of the Contract for the Web campaign
–– Report from the UN High Level Panel on Digital
Cooperation, expected in 2019
–– World Internet Conference – Wuzhen Summit, Wuzhen,
China, 2019
–– Development of network of Centres for the Fourth
Industrial Revolution
–– Follow up to 2018 Paris Call for Trust and Security in
Cyberspace
–– GDPR-like adoption of data policies across countries
–– G7 Innovation Ministers’ Statement on Artificial Intelligence,
including the upcoming multistakeholder forum
Each of these will be a critical stepping stone for aligning and
encouraging action on shared goals for collaboration, which in
turn can provide a thread between these and other fora.
2019 will teach us a lot about the emerging architecture of our
new digital society. Some examples of areas where we are
likely to learn more over the next 12 months include:
How our shared conversation evolves in terms of certain other
issues and developments will also influence how the world will
look in 12 months. For example, some topics worth tracking
might include:
–– Responses to the milestone of half the world being
connected to the internet and news of internet growth
slowing down
Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
9
–– The emergence of new partnerships for investing in
shared infrastructure for the Fourth Industrial Revolution
–– Public trust in tech and the emergence of methods of
new, responsible digital business practices in the industry
(e.g. privacy or security by design, ethical AI or ethical use
of tech)
–– Innovations on exploiting big data while protecting
privacy
–– Growth and use of metrics to measure progress in the
digital economy
The individual actions of every organization will shape our
shared digital future. Priorities for collaboration are shared
alongside each of the six shared goals highlighted above. In
short, however, there are two overarching priorities:
–– For government and business: make inclusive,
trustworthy, sustainable digitalization an overarching
goal, beyond technology or innovation teams/ministries.
This will avoid misaligned policies and incentives
–– For all organizations and individuals: learn more
about what efforts are ongoing to achieve the goals that
matter most and define what your contribution will be
Throughout this paper, we highlight some of the leading
initiatives that are underway against each of the six goals,
in the hope that these initiatives could be further supported
or emulated to advance our collective progress, as well
as some useful informational assets of toolkits. You can
explore these shared goals and keep up to date with related
resources here. You can help us identify new resources to
include, by using this online tool.
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Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
Shared Goal 1:
Leave No Person Behind
Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
11
Destination: Every person has access to and
can use the internet
Thirty years after the invention of the world wide web,
internet connectivity has finally reached 50% of the world’s
population. However, recent data shows an alarming
slowdown in the rate of internet access growth. As the
foundation for individuals and nations to participate
meaningfully in the 21st century, and the promise of
exploiting technology to accelerate progress to achieving
the SDGs, “universal and affordable digital infrastructure for
all” is a goal we all have a stake in.
–– Alarming slowdown in opportunities to participate in
digital society: internet user growth has slowed from
17% in 20071 to 5.5% in 20182
Break it down – understanding the problem
Mind the gap
Global averages are driven by wide differences
between continents and countries: the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimates the number of
internet users by region varies from 22% in Africa to 44% in
Asia Pacific, 66% in the Americas and 80% in Europe. The
SDGs called for universal broadband access for all Least
Developed Countries (LDCs) by 2020; by current growth
rates, less than one-quarter of the nearly 1 billion people in
LDCs6 will be connected by then. Outside the OECD, most
small businesses remain offline, holding back innovation,
entrepreneurship and the development of digital economies.
Multiple divides
–– In 2018, internet connectivity finally reached over half the
world’s population3
–– Basic access just one “digital divide”: others include
quality, generations of technology, age, gender,
affordability and geography
–– Just 1% of multilateral development banks (MDBs)
investment commitments goes to the information and
communications technology (ICT) sector4
Issue overview
While the pace of technological development, adoption and
transformation is accelerating for those who are part of the
digital world, multiple trends show an alarming slowdown in
expanding basic opportunities to participate.
There are multiple gaps that need to be addressed.
Demographic differences reveal wide variance within
individual countries – driven by income levels, age, gender
or whether people live in cities or rural areas, as evidenced
for instance by the digital divide in Africa.
There are also wide variations in affordability – more than
2 billion people live in a country where 1GB of mobile data
is priced above the affordable threshold of 2% or less of
average monthly income.
Language and relevant content is critical, too – there is a big
disparity in the languages most used on the web and in the
world.7
Although enormous progress has been made to date, we
are still a long way from ensuring universal access to internet
services.
Looking forward, the quality of access will be increasingly
critical. In a mobile context, advanced countries will drive
the next range of innovations and positive network effects
through the adoption of 5G – as opposed to adoption rates
in least developed countries.
Why does it matter?
The numbers don’t add up
Digital connectivity is foundational to meaningful social and
economic participation of individuals and countries in the
21st century. Unequal access to the internet increasingly
means unequal access to opportunities, jobs or ability to
deal with unexpected events.
There are a number of critical economic challenges. The
investment case for providing high-quality access to affluent
and densely populated urban environments in developed
economies is clearly different from the investment case
for rural coverage in a low-income country, or a sparsely
populated island-archipelago nation.
Connectivity ensures access not only to basic services, but
to the range of benefits that technologies bring. As multiple
technologies rapidly achieve adoption and create positive
feedback loops of benefits for those who participate, the
access divide grows wider over time. Today’s digital divide
becomes tomorrow’s AI divide or biotechnology divide.
The gaps get ever harder to close, and large numbers of
people are condemned to structural and intergenerational
exclusion. In the most extreme scenario, the feedback
loops on information technology and genetic engineering/
biotechnology results in literally two increasingly divergent
classes of human beings.5
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Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
Furthermore, many incentives among different stakeholders
are not aligned. Governments must manage competing
pressures. A government may want to increase access,
spur innovation and prepare their country for the future – but
also face immediate fiscal pressures in a context where their
economy is not highly diversified across many sectors. The
role of digital connectivity in enabling economic activity across
multiple sectors is not always understood or demonstrable.
Even where it is, short-term revenue needs (e.g. driven by
international loan repayments) can drive taxation and other
policies that hinder the very growth, digital development and
creation of new sectors and new jobs that they need. This, in
turn, makes investment cases even more difficult or risky for
businesses, governments and investors.
These dynamics suggest that enhanced collaboration
and new forms of cooperation between the multiple
stakeholders – including tech and non-tech companies,
ICT ministries, finance ministries, investors and
international financial organizations – may allow all
stakeholders to better align the incentives to achieve their
individual goals.
–– Effective spectrum allocation: Emphasis should be on
policies that support transparent, accountable, timely
and efficient allocation of spectrum
2018–2019 context
–– Making sustainable digitalization an overarching
goal for the government: Responsibility for this should
lie beyond the telecom/ICT ministries to avoid policy
misalignment
In terms of measurable results, as highlighted above,
current trends indicate a slowdown in access growth.
From a commercial perspective, an increasingly wide
range of models and approaches are being tried. There
has been an expansion of ICT infrastructure providers,
with an increase in companies selling everything from
digital services to physical products, often co-financing
infrastructure with mobile network operators (MNOs)
in order to better reach the end user. A number of new
disruptive players are emerging in the market – notably
Facebook’s Aquila, X’s Loon and OneWeb. These new
entrants typically do not provide services directly to
individuals but partner with mobile operators. New
innovative Wi-Fi business models are emerging, as well as
new partnership models with traditional players.
Bottom-up and social innovations can also be seen –
developing new approaches to tackling not just business
models but other challenges. Organizations such as the
Internet Society support communities around the world.
The 1WorldConnected initiative tracks more than 700
projects globally that are tackling the range of barriers
highlighted above.
From a policy and regulatory perspective, the 2018
Affordability Report reveals that while policies around the
regulatory environment, broadband strategy, infrastructure
sharing and spectrum management “improved marginally”,
universal and public access scores went down (the first
time any scores have fallen).
Between 2012 and 2016, MDBs committed a cumulative
$525 billion to fund development projects in low-to middleincome countries worldwide. Just 1% of these project
funds went towards ICT projects.
–– Adopting or revising national broadband plans:
Ensure national plans are based on leading thinking and
include realistic stretch goals
–– Unlocking the potential of universal service and
access funds (USAFs): Identify and address the
barriers and challenges in the effective development
and use of USAFs
–– Incorporating diversity objectives in strategy and
investments: Include specific goals and approaches
to tackle language, gender, disability and geographic
divides, among others
–– Platforms for scaling leading practices and bottomup innovation: Build national and local multistakeholder
platforms to encourage, identify and scale bottom-up
innovation
Open questions
–– What are the important factors that drive successful rollout and adoption of the internet?8
–– How can we better measure the impact of connectivity
on economic and societal outcomes?
–– What policy best practices address the digital divide?
Shaping the future together
Initiatives
–– Smart Africa – an alliance of African countries,
international organizations and the private sector to
implement the SMART Africa Manifesto
Priorities for collaboration
–– Internet for All Initiative – a World Economic Forum
initiative to bring together the public and private sectors
to extend internet access to everyone
on the planet
Building trust, understanding and collaboration for
investment: Facilitate dialogue and collaboration to
understand shared goals and constraints, establish
common direction and explore new financing models
–– People-Centered Digital Future – event organized by
Constellation Research to discuss the community
norms, human rights and social contracts required in this
exponential digital era
–– Smart fiscal policy: Several countries have
“connectivity taxes” on mobile and fixed internet
connections. These taxes drive up costs for consumers,
which can make the internet unaffordable for many
families, as well as for investors
–– The Broadband Commission for Sustainable
Development was established by the ITU and UNESCO
to boost the importance of broadband on the
international policy agenda.
What’s next?
Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
13
–– The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) is a global
coalition working to drive down the cost of internet access
in low- and middle-income countries.
–– Internet Governance Forum, a global multistakeholder
platform that facilitates the discussion of public policy
issues pertaining to the internet
–– Microsoft Airband Initiative, that seeks to bring affordable
broadband access to everyone
–– Inclusive Digital Economy (IDE) Hub, created by the
government of Indonesia to accelerate the adoption
of digital technology to reduce economic and social
disparities
Assets
–– The Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI)’s Digital Access
Index measures the digital industry’s contribution to
achieving the SDGs
–– Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI)’s Mobile Broadband
Data Costs looks at the access and affordability of mobile
services around the world
–– The European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society
Index is a composite index that summarizes relevant
indicators on Europe’s digital performance and tracks the
evolution of EU member states’ digital competitiveness
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Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
–– The Broadband Commission’s The State of Broadband is
an annual report on progress against global targets
–– GSMA State of Connectivity Index measures the
performance of 163 countries against the vital enablers of
mobile internet adoption
–– The Alliance for Affordable Internet’s 2018 Affordability
Report assesses the policy and regulatory progress made
by 61 low- and middle-income countries and finds that,
despite growing global attention on the importance of
affordable internet access for all, policies are failing to
advance at the pace needed to do so
–– World Wide Web Foundation and Alliance for Affordable
Internet’s Closing the Investment Gap: How Multilateral
Development Banks Can Contribute to Digital Inclusion
–– Inclusive Internet Index, commissioned by Facebook and
conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, to measure
the extent to which the internet is accessible, affordable
and allows for meaningful usage by all
Developments to watch
–– National digital plans to address the digital divide around
the world
–– Creative digital infrastructure financing models, especially
from the private sector
Shaping the Future : Securing development gains from the digital transformations
With the dramatically reduced costs of collecting, storing and processing data, and greatly enhanced computing power,
digitalization is transforming most economic activities. It is transforming value chains, skill requirements, production and
trade patterns, and thus requires adaptations of legal and regulatory frameworks. This has major implications for virtually
all SDGs, presenting significant opportunities as well as challenges for developing countries. Although the speed of digital
transformation differs from country to country, all will need to adapt.
The far-reaching implications of digital transformations are well recognized among advanced economies. The OECD’s
Going Digital project, launched in early 2017, addresses the need for new or adapted policies due to digitalization in areas
as diverse as competition, consumer protection, industry, innovation and entrepreneurship, insurance and pensions,
financial markets, fiscal affairs, science and technology, statistics, education, employment, social affairs, public governance
and trade. A similar approach is also needed with regards to development assistance strategies.
Securing the benefits from digital transformation is not automatic. For many countries, the path into the digital economy is
challenging. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s assessments of the eTrade readiness of the leastdeveloped countries have shown that policy actions are needed in a range of areas, from the improvement of paymentsolutions infrastructure to skills development and enhanced financing opportunities for digital entrepreneurs. The large
divides in the digital readiness of countries coupled with the rapid pace of change risks widening the inequality gap.
The international community must rise to the challenge and do so fast. Current efforts to support developing countries
seeking to integrate into the digital economy are inadequate. Although each government must take the lead in preparing
for the digital era, the complexity of policy challenges and the need for speed in the process make external assistance very
important.
The latest data suggests that only 1% of all Aid for Trade funding is devoted to ICT, down from 3% a decade earlier.9 Of
the meagre 1% of multinational development bank commitments that go to ICT projects, very little goes towards policy
development.
In order to do more, and do it better, effective collaboration among all relevant players is necessary.
Such initiatives need to be complemented by more development funding and enhanced readiness among various donors
to address the development implications of digitalization. Few donor agencies have comprehensive digital-for-development
strategies. For example, in 2017, the Donor Committee on Enterprise Development found that less than a third of its
member agencies had published plans to harness new technologies for economic development in low-income countries.
Common reasons given included a lack of in-house expertise and the cross-cutting nature of digital transformations.
The future is digital. We need to make sure people and businesses in developing countries are not being left behind.
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Shared Goal 2:
Empower Users through Good
Digital Identities
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Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
Destination: Every person can access digital
services through identities that are secure,
effective, useful, usable and offer real choice
How individuals are represented in society has been the
bedrock for defining the rights, freedoms and responsibilities
of individuals and the organizations to which they relate. Our
identity today is increasingly digital, distributed and used to
decide what information, services or products we access.
By 2020, the average internet user will have over 200 online
accounts. At the same time, 1 billion people have no formal
identity, excluding them from even basic services and
participation in society.
privacy and security of personal data will likely trigger further
technology and policy innovations and developments.
Privacy-by-design, user consent and innovations that
balance convenience with security will be a standard feature
of future implementations. For businesses, upholding
such practices will emerge as a source of consumer trust,
competitive differentiation and market advantage. There will
be increased adoption of open standards and decentralized
architectures that offer greater user control in a way that
intuitively mirrors transactions in a physical world: examples
include Sovrin ledger and BlockCerts.
–– Identity verification as a service is estimated to grow to a
$16 billion–$20 billion market by 202213
On the other hand, if disparate goals and a lack of
economic incentives hamper shared understanding and
collaboration, we risk a future where people will pay a high
price for their digital visibility. In one scenario, a fragmented
range of isolated identity systems with differing and
incomprehensible standards, accuracy, privacy controls and
security levels will make it hard for us to do anything online,
holding us back from enjoying all of the benefits of a truly
digital economy. This could create new forms of exclusion
and discrimination, isolated data, and data monetization/
business models that exacerbate existing divides or create
new ones. In another scenario, poorly designed digital
identity systems provide the perfect toolkit for a totalitarian
state.
Issue overview
Break it down – understanding the problem
Proving one’s identity is an essential part of our everyday
lives. It is a prerequisite to vote, bank, buy, rent, travel and
access healthcare and other social services.
A big opportunity, a big challenge
–– By 2020, the average internet user will have over 200
online accounts10
–– At the same time, 1 billion people have no formal
identity, excluding them from even basic services and
participation in society11
–– By 2022, 150 million people will have blockchain-based
digital identities12
In an analogue world, we rely on documents issued
by trusted authorities, such as passports or driving licences.
Trust is established through personal relationships or letters
of introduction. In a digital world, our ability to prove our
identity and establish trust will continue to determine our
opportunities. However, our identities are evolving into a
more complex construct – a web of personal information
provided, collected and shared across multiple people,
devices and entities. We increasingly use ride-sharing
networks to move, e-commerce websites and payment
platforms to buy or pay, social media logins to access
services, and are exploring new tools such as virtual reality
(VR), AI and the internet of things (IoT).
The challenge is to help people access opportunities while
ensuring that visibility does not infringe their freedoms or
cause them harm. However, to date there is no common
view on what “good” digital identity looks like.
Why does it matter?
Use of digital identifiers will rise, along with the volume of
personally identifiable information on people in the digital
sphere.
If designed for a user-centric future, these efforts will
translate into easy, convenient, seamless access to a range
of services and value for users. Growing concerns on
Many of the existing social and economic divides have
parallels in the gap in access to identities. According to
the World Bank, close to 40% of the eligible population in
low-income countries (LICs) do not have a reliable identity.14
Coverage gaps in middle-income countries (MICs) are much
smaller, with less than 10% of the population lacking an
identity. Similarly, women are at greater risk of not having
an identity, thereby exacerbating pre-existing gender gaps.
Some 45% of women in LICs do not have an identity, as
opposed to 30% of men. In this context, technology offers
a tremendous opportunity to provide identity to those who
don’t have it.
What is ‘good digital identity’?
Beyond providing identities, developing a system for digital
identities requires defining what features a “good” digital
identity should possess. There are trade-offs – between
convenience, security and privacy of users and the state’s
need to keep citizens secure and respect their privacy. There
is fragmentation and a lack of standardization – technology
choices and governance frameworks are being figured out
industry by industry, country by country. There are competing
incentives: business models that are reliant on personal data
monetization and the user’s need to be in control of it.
What good identity looks like in practice is a challenging
question, but there are a few core features: verification
(such as passwords or biometric proofs), inclusion, utility
and ease of use, user control, privacy and security.
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2018–2019 context
Since 2016, a number of disparate digital identity systems
began to converge – from financial services, other industry
players, humanitarian development agencies and NGOs,
sovereign and federated identity communities, the blockchain
community and, of course, governments.
–– Platforms for learning and action: At all levels,
improving ongoing practice through design and
implementation that engages all stakeholders, for
instance, on country-level programmes, and learning
networks to disseminate and scale leading practices
Open questions
Currently there are 161 digital identity programmes run by
governments globally. On 26 September, the supreme court of
India upheld the constitutional validity of the country’s Aadhaar
government identity programme, against long-standing
challenges and concerns. However, the ruling struck down
several provisions, including those linking a citizen’s Aadhaar ID
to bank accounts, mobile phones and school admissions.
–– What constitutes “good identity in a digital world”?
A range of efforts that will employ digital technologies to
provide displaced and other vulnerable people with identities
is gaining significant momentum – enabling access to
healthcare, basic services and, in the case of displaced
populations, potentially enabling family reunions.
Initiatives
Over 50 organizations made a commitment to enhanced
cooperation in January 2018; in September, the Platform for
Digital Identity was launched to provide an open network of
practitioners with opportunities to identify and collaborate on
common priorities.
What’s next?
Priorities for collaboration
The following are priorities for near-term public private
cooperation to shape positive-outcome practices and
solutions for digital identity:
–– Define what “good” looks like: Based on leading
practices and research across multiple identity domains,
enhance consensus on the core attributes of “good digital
identity”
–– Promoting common digital identity standards:
Develop functional or capability-based standards for
voluntary adoption
–– Building awareness and capacity: On inherent
vulnerabilities, inability to detect coercion, unintended
consequences; knowledge exchange across and
between practitioners, policy
–– Supporting and amplifying technology innovations:
Surfacing and supporting experimentation that enables
privacy, security, interoperability, user control; extending
innovations to a wider range of use-cases; role for
funders, policy-makers and system designers in doing
this
–– Developing policy toolkits: Fit-for-purpose governance
and accountability mechanisms – for systems (liability,
redressal), countries (legal frameworks, independent
oversight), and on a global scale
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Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
–– What are the right metrics to measure progress?
–– What services should a good digital identity support?
Shaping the future together
–– The Electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust
Services (eIDAS) are a set of standards for electronic
identification for online transactions in the European
Union
–– The Identification for Development (ID4D) is a World
Bank initiative to help countries develop inclusive,
robust and responsible digital identification systems
–– ID2020 is an alliance committed to improving lives
through digital identity
–– Mission Billion is an initiative by the World Bank to spur
innovative ideas and solutions to provide a reliable form
of identification to over a billion people who do not
currently have it
–– Platform for Good Digital Identity is an initiative by the
World Economic Forum to bring existing and new digital
identity solutions that are inclusive, trustworthy, safe
and sustainable
–– Good ID dialogues led by the Omidyar Network aim
to spur discussion on innovative solutions for digital
identities
–– The Identity for Good accelerator from Evernym and
Sovrin Foundation aims to provide tools and technology
to organizations offering services reliant on digital
identities
–– The Open Identity Exchange is a technology-agnostic,
non-profit trade organization consisting of leaders from
competing business sectors focused on building the
volume and velocity of trusted transactions online
–– T-Auth, a collaboration between mobile operators in
South Korea and e-IDAS regulators in the EU, is an
example of efforts to standardize and deliver greater
value to users. User consultations, as performed
in British Columbia and Belgium, are instructive
processes.
Assets
Developments to watch
–– The World Economic Forum’s Identity in a Digital World:
A New Chapter in the Social Contract provides an
overview of the various models of digital ID currently
being pursued around the world
–– Aadhaar implementation in India following restrictions
set by the country’s supreme court, and the country’s
personal data protection bill under discussion
–– The GSMA’s report Regulatory and Policy Trends
Impacting Digital Identity and the Role of Mobile looks
at the landscape of policies in regards to digital identity
around the world and their impact on achieving SDG
outcomes
–– Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) and African Union
Commission (AUC) to accelerate regional progress on
digital identities
–– Digital Identity and Authorization Council of Canada’s
(DIACC) Pan Canadian Trust Framework under
development
–– The GSMA’s report Digital Identities: Advancing Digital
Societies in Asia Pacific highlights the role that mobile
operators and regulators must play in using digital
identities for development.
–– China’s national Identity programme and partnerships
with Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat
–– The World Bank’s findings from the Identification for
Development (ID4D) initiative
–– Progress of ongoing pilots in decentralized digital identity
systems (such as those undertaken by the City of
Antwerp, government of Malta, British Columbia, World
Food Programme)
–– Digital Identity: A UBS Group Innovation White Paper
provides an overview of the current digital-identity space
–– Canada’s Digital ID Future: A Federated Approach is a
white paper on Canada’s approach to digital ID
Shaping the Future : Data economics
Numerous analogies have emerged in recent years that try to capture the unique and ubiquitous nature of data and
its role in the seemingly unlimited opportunities for the creation of new value. In May 2017, the Economist pronounced
data as the newly crowned most valuable resource, not oil.15 In March 2018, Forbes said data was not the new oil but
something completely different. If so, what?16
How we think about data from an economic point of view is unclear, and yet it will have significant implications for how
we use data to improve lives, innovate, tackle grand challenges and balance the interests of individuals and society.
In traditional economics, three “factors of production” are the ingredients that go into creating value in society: capital,
labour and land. Where does data fit in? We can observe arguments for each.
Data is the new oil/gold/currency (capital)
The most common analogy or assumption is the idea that data is a new asset. Whether it is something to be collected,
accumulated, mined, traded or exploited, the general assumption is that ownership or control of data bestows economic
wealth on the holder.
However, analogies with other products or commodities break down quickly. Data is being created all the time, and the
more there is, the more valuable it becomes. It can be used by multiple people in multiple locations for different values
simultaneously. Perhaps, some suggest, it is less like oil and more like renewable energy sources such as wind, waves or
sunlight?
Data commons
A common alternative way to think about data is as a “commons”, that is, a resource that many different parties can
share (a category of “land”). In the past, the village green, where anyone could graze their sheep, was the village
commons; today, the environment or the oceans are examples of commons. The framing shifts from data ownership to
shared permissions or shared rights. The idea of a data commons creates many opportunities for us to make greater use
of data and increase innovation.
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The idea of a data commons has been popular with academics and civil society for some time. And others are also
taking this seriously. For instance, Philips is developing open-source software to enable healthcare researchers to access
clinical information such as vital signs, lab results and diagnoses from its telehealth program.17 The IMF’s own data
strategy is based on building a global data commons among all of its members.18
However, thinking of data as a commons also presents its own challenges. The “tragedy of the commons” refers to the
problem that, in such settings, there are more incentives to extract the benefits than invest in the resource. Everyone
puts all of their sheep in the commons until all of the grass is gone; the air and oceans become polluted; and some are
already sounding alarms on the tragedy of the healthcare data commons. Furthermore, unlike natural commons, data
is not something already freely available in the world. Significant investment is required – on infrastructure, devices,
applications – to create data. Producing sustainable business and investment models to realize data commons at scale
would require cross-sectoral innovation and collaboration.
Data as labour
Perhaps most surprisingly, an argument has emerged that the most effective way to treat data is as labour. The idea was
introduced in a 2018 American Economic Association paper,19 in which the authors highlight that the current exchange of
free services for data may not be the only arrangement possible. As we interact in a digital environment, we are creating
the data – that is, creating the value, in our shared networks. Such an approach recognizes the value that individuals
create through their interactions, rather than position the services as “free”. We are creating value all of the time, and
proponents posit that this could provide “a way to provide income and a new source of meaning to people’s lives in a
world where many traditional occupations no longer exist”.20
While some companies are researching this, it is not currently the predominant view. This approach focuses primarily on
personal data.
How should we think about data?
Canada’s National Data Strategy estimates “the likely market value of data in the trillions of dollars at the dawn of the
data-driven-economy era”. However, it observes, “data is nowhere to be seen in traditional national economic accounts,
international trade statistics or the quantitative cost-benefit analysis of government policies”.
How we think about data matters for individual expectations, how business create new services and seek to monetize
them and for macro policy-making. It is possible – likely, even – that there is no single answer here, and that different
approaches may be appropriate in different circumstances. Further research is required to support a more informed
public debate about the options, implications and opportunities ahead.
20
Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
Shared Goal 3:
Make Business Work for
People
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Destination: Digital businesses create
sustainable value for all stakeholders
Digital technologies are transforming every sector,
creating new value pools and offering improved societal
outcomes – from human health to the environment.
Without public trust, these opportunities cannot
materialize. Companies face two challenges – creating
new business models and ensuring they secure their
licence to operate in the digital economy.
–– By 2022, 60% of global GDP will be digitized21
–– In 2018, over $1.2 trillion will be spent by companies
on digital transformation efforts22
–– 57% of people are uncomfortable with how
companies use their information23
–– 74% of people expect CEOs to explain what their
companies have done to help society, and 64%
want CEOs to take the lead on change24
–– From January 2016 to June 2018, cryptomining25
consumed more energy than mineral mining to
produce an equivalent market value26
Issue overview
Responding to digital disruption is now an existential
question for companies across the world; but
successful transformation is not easy. This year, over
$1.2 trillion will be spent by companies on digital
transformation efforts and only 1% of these efforts will
actually achieve their expectations.27
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, trust
in all technology-based sectors has declined, with
concerns over data privacy and security a vital factor.
Beyond privacy and security concerns, broader ethical
questions about the way organizations use digital
technology threaten to erode trust in those institutions.
Some 60–70% of new value will be based on datadriven digitally enabled networks and platforms. But,
with most digital assets in the hands of the private
sector, the aggregate behaviour of each business
shapes the new digital social contract that will emerge
in the coming years.
Why does it matter?
In the future, establishing new norms of ethical
behaviour with digital technology while reaching higher
levels of customer trust will be critical in successful
digital transformation. A few possible futures await:
Blowback: A backlash against the tech sector builds
and extends to all sectors aiming to digitize. A lack of
shared understanding leads to poor practices, loss of
public trust and a swathe of fragmented regulations.
Simultaneously, disruption continues, and disruptors
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do not want to be associated with incumbents who
have lost their licence to operate. A sustained period of
market volatility further increases returns to capital and
concentration of wealth.
Leadership: Business takes a leadership role in
shaping the transformation of society, partnering across
industries, with government, civil society and innovators
to develop norms and practices that enhance trust.
Communities of practice continuously spread and
enhance know-how. Businesses exploit the disruptive
pressure to redefine their core value proposition to align
their purpose with a broader societal purpose as a
competitive advantage to engage consumers and talent.
Break it down – understanding the problem
Disruption
Across all sectors, digital transformation is driving
companies and whole sectors to re-evaluate their core
value proposition and business models. Technology,
innovation and new entrants are transforming the
strategic landscape for all industries. Recent levels of
disruption in media, entertainment, communications and
retail are highlighting the susceptibility to the emerging
disruptions of the healthcare, insurance, banking, utilities,
energy and automotive sectors. The media sector learned
many years ago that people no longer need a newspaper
to get news; we’re now learning that we don’t need to
own vehicles to get around or deal with banks for banking
services.
Technology, responsibility and trust
Using new technologies and data brings new risks
and responsibilities. Many business models to date
rely on exploiting user data in ways that the public is
now beginning to question. Poor practices corrode
trust and are damaging to all. Social media, radio
frequency identification (RFID) tags and user-generated
websites such as TripAdvisor have all been instrumental
in increasing the transparency of businesses and
overcoming information asymmetries. Business model
choices and related behaviours of each business will
determine the new digital contract with society.
Beyond privacy and security concerns, broader ethical
questions about the way organizations use digital
technology threaten to erode trust in those institutions.
There is great uncertainty about the overall impact of
digital transformation on jobs, with additional concerns
about its impact on wages and working conditions.28
For companies, risks include liability and regulatory
issues, direct losses and reputational damage leading to
commercial loss.
In June, Microsoft employees wrote to CEO Satya Nadella
demanding the company cancel a $19.4 million contract
with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) agency. Earlier, a petition signed by 4,000 Google
employees sought “a clear policy stating that neither
Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare
technology”. And, separately, Amazon employees wrote to
CEO Jeff Bezos, aiming to stop the company from selling
facial recognition services to law enforcement agencies.29
Platforms and networks
Platforms and collaborative networks are at the heart
of the new digital economy, with 60–70% of new value
created in the next ten years expected to be based on
data-driven digitally enabled networks and platforms.30
This includes not only social media, but also platform
environments that enable industries, supply chains,
employment, financial services and health markets
– to name just a few. The rise of platforms poses a
range of trade-off questions that challenge our traditional
business and policy understanding. For example,
e-commerce platforms allow micro-entrepreneurship and
lower barriers to entry for small businesses. However,
network effects, which occur when a product or service
gains additional value for each user as more people use
it, drive winner-take-all dynamics that challenge pre-digital
concepts of monopoly. The move to platforms is likely to
accelerate. To date, platforms have enabled exponential
reach, smarter allocation of resources and the ability to
harness the power of communities to transform markets
for selling goods; the $10 trillion services markets may be
next.31
New technology architecture
New technology architectures for computing and
communications will enable the next wave in the
innovation of ubiquitous intelligence and integrated
solutions. The value from these solutions will sit at
the intersection of traditional sectors – for example,
integrated environmental monitoring, energy and
transport systems for cities. This will require collaboration
across industrial and policy domains. A shared challenge
is how the right partnerships and networks are created
– across traditional sectors, with innovators and policymakers.
Planetary boundaries of the digital
environment
We are used to thinking of cyberspace as existing in
a non-physical domain. While it’s true that the internet
allows for exponential growth of data, information, ideas
and knowledge, there are real-world physical foundations.
There are several areas in which we must manage the
impact of these foundations on the environment, including
data centres, electronic waste and the significant energy
needs of blockchain.
2018–2019 context
There is now broad acceptance that a range of
technologies, individually and collectively, are game
changers for business,32 and 34.7% of FTSE 100
companies now have a technologist as part of their
executive leadership team, up from 24.5% in 2016.33
Furthermore, there is growing recognition of the role of
business as a leader in building trust. In a global sense,
business as an institution is trusted to a greater degree than
governments or the media.34 However, while tech entered
2018 as the most trusted sector,35 high-profile news stories
such as the Cambridge Analytica case have dominated
the public conversation since then. As a result, trust in all
technology-based sectors has declined, with concerns over
data privacy and security an important factor.36 Employees
of several technology companies have called upon their
leadership to uphold values not just in terms of how tech is
developed, but how it is used. There is now broad debate
about the responsibilities of technology companies.
As over 90% of all enterprises will be “digital-native” in
the coming years,37 questions of the responsibility and
technology must be addressed across all sectors. Trust is
driven by multiple factors, including the nature of products
and services, how companies handle personal information,
the security of data records and the 50 billion devices that
will be connected to the internet in the coming years, as well
as other factors such as transparency and access to due
process. Beyond actions taken within individual companies,
business has the opportunity, agility and, increasingly, the
commercial interest to take a leading role in contributing
to shared social outcomes through technical and voluntary
normative standards and through enhanced collaboration
with the public sector and civil society.
What’s next?
Priorities for collaboration
–– Encouraging a network for responsible business
leadership: Individual businesses are already taking
a leadership role on individual topics such as data
protection and workforce reskilling, promoting a growing
network of informed, responsible leaders who can chart
sustainable paths for their organizations
–– Developing tools and guides on transformation: As
an opportunity to redefine purpose for both societal
good and competitive advantage such as incorporating
good digital citizenship into business practices
–– Empowering boards and companies’ teams: With an
understanding of, and tools to manage, the implications
of tech for their business opportunities and risks
–– Private-public cooperation to develop shared
strategies for industry transformation: Business
networks and governments in several countries are
collaborating on building shared roadmaps for the
transformation of industries
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23
–– Private-public collaboration on important digital
topics: Create programmes on relevant topics – in
particular, a) transformation of the economy, b) platforms,
c) new technologies and d) next-generation architectures
– for ongoing dialogue and shared problem-solving
between all relevant stakeholders, including enterprises,
SMEs, start-ups, municipal and national governments,
and civil society
Open questions
–– What are the parameters of a new digital social contract
for business?
–– Where can business contribute most in the next two
years to encourage a more inclusive, trustworthy and
sustainable digital future?
–– How can companies help customers and citizens realize
the opportunities – and mitigate the risks – of the digital
economy?
Shaping the future together
Initiatives
–– Blueprint for Better Business challenges companies to be
a force for good and contribute to a better society
–– The Digital Champions Network asks business to commit
to priorities and actions that ensure an inclusive digital
revolution
–– SMARTer2030 Business Playbook provides support to
business leaders with ideas to enable the sustainability
benefits of technology
–– Digital Economy Framework for Action is the Singapore
government’s strategy to become the world’s leading
digital economy
–– Japan: Society 5.0 (See page 36)
Assets
–– A New Social Contract for the Digital Age by T20
Argentina Task Force on the Future of Work and
Education for the Digital Age
–– International Data Corporation’s (IDC) predictions for the
global IT industry in 2019
–– The Case for Digital Reinvention by McKinsey & Company
–– The Slow Pace of Digital Transformation by Forbes
–– The Digital Enterprise: Moving from Experimentation to
Transformation by the World Economic Forum
–– Values, Ethics and Innovation: Rethinking Technological
Development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution – a white
paper by the World Economic Forum
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–– How to Supercharge Your National Digital
Transformation, five lessons from the Boston Consulting
Group
–– Collaboration Between Start-ups and Corporates: A
practical guide for mutual understanding – a white paper
by the World Economic Forum
–– The Power of Trust and Values in the Fourth Industrial
Revolution, a perspective from the World Economic
Forum and Salesforce
–– How Brands Can Foster Trusted Customer Relationships
by Salesforce
Developments to watch
–– Corporate practices promoting transparency in AI
decision-making
–– The emergence of B2B platforms drawing on the internet
of things
–– The expansion of platforms as the overriding new
business model
Shaping the Future : China
In China, 2018 marked a major milestone in terms of the internet: its internet users passed 800 million, making it the
country with the largest internet population in the world.38 Chinese internet users are some of the most dynamic in the
world: 98% are active on mobile, 92% use messaging apps and 650 million consume digital news online.39
The rapid growth of the internet in China has changed the landscape of the economy and society. In 2017, digital
on-demand car- and bike-sharing services in the country accounted for over 10 billion trips – two-thirds of all the ondemand trips taken around the world. The Chinese online e-commerce platform Taobao has over 600 million active
daily users, making it 80% larger than Amazon.40 The magnitude of its impact can be gauged by the growth of what are
often called Taobao villages: communities where more than 10% of the population make a living by selling products and
services online. In 2013, there were only about 20 such villages across China; today there are over 2,000. They account
for over half a million online stores, $19 billion in annual sales and 1.3 million new jobs created.
The scale of internet usage and its economic significance is best illustrated by what the Chinese call “Guangun Jie”
or Singles’ Day. On 11 November every year, billions of Chinese at home and abroad participate in a 24-hour online
shopping festival. It is a global affair with over 100,000 sellers from more than 200 countries getting involved, including
some of the biggest international brands such as Apple, Burberry and Uniqlo. This year, on the tenth anniversary of the
event, the Chinese online e-commerce giant Alibaba generated revenues of over $30.8 billion in 24 hours, beating last
year’s record of $25.3 billion.41 Amazon generated $4 billion in sales on Prime Day in July; Alibaba exceeded Amazon’s
number within the first 15 minutes of its event.
The commercial impact is being complemented by the next wave of internet-infrastructure investment in China: 5G
dramatically improves bandwidth, capacity and reliability of mobile broadband and opens up many new applications at
scale, from high-definition video to smart clothing, telehealth and autonomous vehicles. It is the critical enabler to the rollout of the internet of things (IoT). China is running a series of integrated 5G trials across 17 cities and expects to launch
commercial services by late 2019 or early 2020, with plans to achieve 500 million 5G subscribers by 2025.42 The country
will remain a centre of attention in 2019 as 5G pilots move forward into commercialization. The success of this transition
will be a major indicator of China’s ability to be a technology innovator and leader in 5G applications and services.
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25
Shared Goal 4:
Keep Everyone Safe
and Secure
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Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
Destination: Everyone’s identity, assets,
reputation and life are protected from cyberrisks through trusted and secure technologies,
businesses and institutions along with a
culture of cybersecurity and cyber-resilience
A safe and secure digital environment is a global public
good. Everyone has a role to play in contributing positively
to this environment. Progress has been made, but the
challenge becomes more difficult with the explosion of
IoT and a complex geopolitical backdrop. A world where
all individuals have the capabilities to ensure their own
security is a world where cyber-risks can be more effectively
mitigated and managed.
–– 74% of business can expect to be hacked this year43
–– The 2017 WannaCry attack affected 150 countries and
institutions44
–– Over 4.5 billion records were compromised by malicious
actors in the first half of 2018, up from 2.7 billion records
for all of 201745
–– Cyberattacks result in annual losses of over $400 billion
to the global economy46
Why does it matter?
Digital connectivity plays a pivotal role in unlocking
innovation and prosperity around the world; security
provides the foundation for the trust and stability
necessary for this to occur. However, the increasing
number of cyber-risks presents a major obstacle to our
continued and collective path to progress. Even beyond
the economic implications (e.g. on intellectual property
or financial stability), better security is necessary in order
to protect the integrity of a wide range of societal values,
such as basic rights, privacy and democratic processes.
Break it down – understanding the problem
Reduce global cyberattacks, contain current and future
cyberattacks and deter cybercrime.
Reduce, contain, deter
From a threat perspective, the issue is deceptively simple.
There is a need to reduce the number of cyberattacks,
contain the severity and reach of current and future
cyberattacks and deter future attacks by heightening the
risks associated with such activity.
A leadership issue
–– By 2022, 50% of security alerts will be handled by AI
automation47
Issue overview
Cyberthreats are one of the primary challenges to ensuring we
fully harness the benefits of the digital economy. Cyberattacks
result in an annual loss of over $400 billion to the global
economy. The average cost of a data breach is $3.62 million.48
In the first half of 2018, more than 4.5 billion data records
were compromised by malicious actors. This translates to
over a million records lost or stolen every hour. Beyond data
theft or loss, inadequate security puts the integrity of data into
question as malicious actors with network access can insert or
remove relevant data used for decision-making and industrial
processes.
Although criminal activities form the vast majority of
cyberattacks, there is a growing trend in nation state intrusions
onto critical networks. Such intrusions by states erode both
trust and sovereign authority. They also focus the immense
resources of states in order to build tools that eventually wind
up in criminal hands, exacerbating an already significant
threat to businesses and individuals. Finally, these activities
significantly threaten innovation itself by depriving peaceful
actors of a trusted and dynamic platform for the development
of new business and social models.
Given these issues, and the inability of any one nation or
company to solve them alone, it is vital to consider security as
a global public good and thus act in concert to better ensure
safe digital networks. Global cooperation and commitments are
needed.
Those at the forefront of digital-security thinking view
cyber-resilience as more a matter of strategy and culture
than tactics. Being resilient requires those at the highest
levels of companies, organizations or governments to
recognize the importance of avoiding and proactively
mitigating risks. While it is everyone’s responsibility to
cooperate in order to ensure greater cyber-resilience,
leaders who set the strategy for an organization are
ultimately responsible, and have increasingly been
held accountable, for including cyber-resilience in their
organizational strategy. For businesses, this means
cyberstrategy must be determined at the oversight board
level, and must be embraced by the entire organization.
Collaboration is critical
Speaking solely about cybersecurity is insufficient if the
challenges of digitalization are to be effectively met.
Protection is important, but organizations must also
develop strategies to ensure durable networks and
take advantage of the opportunities that digitalization
can bring. While there are many broader definitions of
cybersecurity, there is a difference between cybersecurity
and the more strategic, long-term thinking that cyberresilience should evoke. Additionally, since vulnerability in
one area can compromise the entire network, resilience
requires a conversation focused on systems rather than
individual organizations. New models of cooperation at
all levels – industry, national, regional and global – are
required to shape shared responses.
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2018–2019 context
Broader decline in trust between large powers is affecting
trust in cyberspace, making cooperation more difficult.
The next year will witness significant positive steps towards
developing solutions to shared security challenges and
coping with the evolution of new threats. These threats may
well take the form of new illegal business models and the
refinement of crime-as-a-service, as well as the spread of
such malicious actions from the developed world to newly
digitized economies elsewhere. New technologies continue
to come online, providing an increased attack surface (as
is the case of 5G-enabled connected devices) and new
tools for malicious actions (such as adversarial AI). Practices
that encourage security-by-design or security-by-default
are likely to emerge as industry standards in response to
increased threats.
Figure 2: Rising incidence and impact of global state-attributed cyberattacks
Titan Rain
Titan Rain was a string of cyber
operations that compromised a
number of agencies within the US
and UK government. Although the
attacks were first publicly revealed in
2005, the United States reported
that they had been ongoing since at
least 2003.
Ghostnet
A large-scale electronic espionage
program used to spy on individuals,
organizations and governments,
breaching 1,295 computers in 103
countries over a two-year period,
predominately focusing on
governments in South-East Asia.
Shady RAT
Targeted government entities
(primarily in the United States),
defence contractors, think tanks,
and companies in the advanced
information technology and aerospace industries for espionage.
Flame
A threat actor, using a tool called
Flame, targeted computers in the
Middle East region; the most
compromises were in Iran. This
compromise gained widespread
coverage due to the modular
nature of the malware the threat
actors used.
Machete
Each attack is marked as a diamond, sized
by the number of targets. Attacks can have
both state and non-state targets; where
state targets are indicated, lines are drawn
to those countries.
Source: Thomson Reuters Labs Council on Foreign Relations
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Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
This threat actor targets military,
government entities and telecommunications providers, primarily
in Latin America, for the purpose
of espionage.
Operation Parliament
A threat actor targeted a foreign
ministry in Europe and in North
America using spear-phishing
techniques for the purpose
of espionage.
What’s next?
Open questions
Priorities for collaboration
–– How do we build greater trust and collaboration between
business and government to address cyber-risks?
Multistakeholder partnership will be a vital component
in resolving many of the challenges listed above. This
collaboration will be crucial if the largest challenges to trust
and security are to be effectively met in the near future.
While there are likely to continue to be opportunities for
collaboration, there are several priority areas:
–– How do we accelerate the building of cybersecurity skills
among professionals and users?
–– Building human capital: There is a significant gap
between the need for cybersecurity professionals and
the number of individuals trained and ready to enter the
profession. Several nations and companies are working
to provide educational opportunities and increased
access to these vital roles
–– Building understanding at leadership level: In
government ministries, departments and regulatory
agencies as well as in corporate boardrooms,
understanding of cybersecurity risks is lacking.
Organizations such as the World Economic Forum’s
Centre for Cybersecurity are building capabilities for
these important decision-makers
–– Addressing confusion and fragmentation: Regulation
has been inadequate in addressing evolving threats to
networks and the components of critical infrastructure
that rely on those networks. Continued work must be
undertaken to ensure that regulation encourages both
transparency and security
–– How do we measure the real and potential costs of
cyberattacks using common metrics?
Shaping the future together
Initiatives
–– Centre for Cybersecurity, World Economic Forum,
launched January 2018
–– Global Cyber Alliance, organization aimed at
implementing concrete cybersecurity measures globally
–– Cyber Threat Alliance, launched as an independent
organization in 2017 to share advanced threat data
–– Cybersecurity Tech Accord, public commitment among
more than 60 global companies to protect and support
civilians online and to improve the security, stability and
resilience of cyberspace
–– Charter of Trust, industry-led effort that aims to set
minimum general standards for cybersecurity in keeping
with the requirements of state-of-the-art technology
Assets
–– Encouraging technical innovation: Internet architecture
is not designed for security. New standards for security
are beginning to be developed. These efforts must
accelerate and adapt to new technologies in order to
continue to have salutary effects
–– Mitigation strategies: In order to ensure that the
engines of innovation continue to survive and thrive,
security and resilience call for new risk-mitigation
strategies and tools. Insurance companies are leading
these efforts and will continue to have a vital role to play
in the future
–– Intelligence sharing: Especially between computer
emergency response teams (CERTs) and law
enforcement, and between national law enforcement
agencies
–– Global capacity-building and training programs:
To produce the next generation of cybersecurity
professionals
–– National and corporate strategies: Cybersecurity as a
core part of national and corporate strategies
–– Responsible, Safe and Secure AI, Lisbon Council
(October 2018)
–– State of Cybersecurity Report 2018 by Wipro
–– Digital and Risk: A New Posture for Cyberrisk in a
Networked World by McKinsey & Company
–– The State of Cybersecurity Report by ACC Foundation
–– Cyber Resilience Playbook for Public-Private
Collaboration by the World Economic Forum
Developments to watch
–– Paris Call for Trust and Security – the first governmentendorsed global effort on cybersecurity that recognizes
the crucial role the private sector plays in protecting the
important global public goods of trust and security in
cyberspace
–– Interpol Global Complex for Innovation – research and
development facility for the identification of crimes and
criminals, innovative training, operational support and
partnerships
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Shaping the Future : Digital ASEAN
ASEAN is the fastest-growing internet market in the world. With 125,000 new users coming on to the internet every
day,49 the ASEAN digital economy is projected to grow significantly, adding an estimated $1 trillion to regional GDP over
the next ten years.50
However, many significant roadblocks stand in the way of realizing this potential. For most ASEAN countries, these
include, among other things: inadequate digital infrastructure; restrictions on cross-border flow of data; absence of
harmonized rules and regulations on e-commerce, including questions about data protection; blockages at customs;
burdensome business-licensing processes and absence of digital payment solutions; shortage of digital human capital;
absence of regional e-payment systems and regional digital-identity frameworks; weak resilience against cyberattacks;
lack of empirical evidence to inform ASEAN digital policy.
ASEAN has laid out important policy measures and frameworks – including the AEC Blueprint 2025, Masterplan on
ASEAN Connectivity 2025 and the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement – to address these roadblocks. However, meeting
these ambitious goals will demand detailed research, visionary policy-making, and substantial buy-in from regional
stakeholders.
In response to this opportunity, a multistakeholder group of Forum members and partners launched the Digital ASEAN
programme to develop a sustainable, inclusive and trustworthy regional digital economy. The programme provides a
platform for a wide range of stakeholders to identify and address roadblocks to ensure the digital economy becomes a
force for the region’s sustainability and prosperity. The Digital ASEAN programme comprises of the following three broad
areas:
1.
Towards a digital single market
–– Enabling e-commerce
–– Cross-border data flows
2.
Building and enabling digital ecosystems
–– Digital entrepreneurship
–– Digital human capital
–– Digital identity
–– Cyber-resilience
–– Better research for evidence-based digital policy
3.
Infrastructure and digital access
–– Digital infrastructure
–– Digital literacy
A community of interested parties in ASEAN, collectively convened and managed by the World Economic Forum, will
decide which of these areas are of greatest priority. The Board of Advisors includes 15 individuals who are ASEAN
ministers of digital economy, ICT and commerce, the ASEAN secretary-general, business leaders and thought leaders
from academia, and the Forum’s ASEAN Regional Business Council, a group of 70 companies that provides additional
support and guidance. Each chosen area will have its own multistakeholder working group and will seek to accelerate
and amplify existing leading activities.
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Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
Shared Goal 5: Build new rules
for a new game
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Destination: We have an effective set of
rules and rule-making tools for the Fourth
Industrial Revolution that are agile, inclusive
and multistakeholder-ready as needed
Policy-makers are challenged to protect individuals
while enabling innovation. Technologies create new
opportunities that require new rules; the explosion of
many technologies is creating lots of new questions.
The role of governments in establishing a national
strategic direction and priorities is critical. However,
the globally connected nature of digital technologies
makes many issues difficult to address at an international
or even national level. The speed of change outstrips
traditional policy, regulation and governance
processes.
–– In Sep 2018, China announced that it will invest $14.6
billion in the digital economy over the next five years,51
and in Jun 2018, Europe committed €9.2 billion
($10.4bn) to the first ever Digital Future Program52
–– According to a global survey conducted by Dentsu
Aegis, only 45% of people believe that the positive
impact of the evolving digital economy outweigh the
negative53
–– According to the same survey, 43% of respondents
believed that technology has made society more
unequal and 55% felt that not enough is being done
to ensure technology benefits everyone54
Issue overview
The institutions that have traditionally had the
responsibility of shaping the societal impacts of new
technology are struggling to keep up with its rapid
change and exponential impact. At the same time, a
sharp decline in confidence is occurring around the world
as trust in mainstream institutions is at its lowest point
in five years.55 There is an urgent need for a faster, more
agile approach to governing emerging technologies and
the business models and social interaction structures
they enable.
A shared understanding of acceptable behaviours is the
foundation of trust in society. Whether through shared
values, rule of law or understanding the colour-coding
of traffic lights, governance allows us to act and pursue
our goals with confidence. The architecture and nature
of traditional governance mechanisms are inherently
challenged to respond to digital technologies and the
internet due to structural and rate of change mismatches.
These pressures require an evolution of our institutional
architecture – towards adaptive, human-centred,
inclusive and sustainable governance. Beyond policy
and regulation, other instruments – such as contract
law, voluntary standards, codes of practice, industry
self-regulation and technology innovation – can provide
assurance and “rules of the road”.
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Our Shared Digital Future Building an Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Digital Society
Why does it matter?
Using traditional policy-making tools alone, governments
will struggle to keep pace with innovation, create the right
enabling environments for innovations that cut across
traditionally isolated sectors, position their countries for
competitiveness or develop common frameworks with
other governments to ensure the continued exchange
of commerce, knowledge and understanding that are
the foundations for peace. The implications of these
shortcomings would constrain their ability to protect
consumers, drive innovation and growth, and provide
security to citizens.
Unilateral decision-making that does not understand and
include input from all relevant stakeholders is more likely to
be met with resistance and thus falter.
Break it down – understanding the problem
Traditional rule-making occurs primarily within national
contexts, divided among clear vertical ministries (e.g. health,
transport etc.), with clear devolution of authority from
national to regional, municipal and local governments. The
rate of technology innovation can outpace a government’s
ability to develop new rules. Beyond the pace of change,
it is also deeply challenging to understand or predict the
complex disruptive implications of new technologies. As
such, governments are rapidly developing new strategies
and using existing international fora. In some cases, these
efforts are already being supplemented through deeper
cooperation with the internet and the business communities,
offering the opportunity for faster, more inclusive trustbuilding.
A strategic priority for all stakeholders
Since 2016, a growing number of national governments
have established national strategies, including strategic
direction, priorities and investments. A variety of different
approaches and models are being implemented. China
has developed a multipronged approach, driving the
progress of internet access, e-commerce and digital
economy participation and leadership in AI. It has also
sought international cooperation through the digital “silk
road” and the World Internet Conference – Wuzhen
Summit. Singapore has undertaken a major analysis of
the digital transformation of its industries and established
industry action plans and a national skills agenda based
on that data. Digital India has been a core focus of that
country’s leadership, while the Thai cabinet approved a
law establishing the Digital Economy and Society Council
under the Digital Economy and Society Ministry. Strategic
overviews have been undertaken by the UK, Denmark and
Sweden, among many others. Switzerland created a Digital
Transformation Advisory Council to support a businessgovernment exchange. India and Japan have announced
the establishment of Centres for the Fourth Industrial
Revolution, as part of a global network of innovation hubs
to develop agile governance protocols for digital and other
Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies.
At the international level, the digital economy has now
been established as a vital pillar, with strategic initiatives
being developed by a range of different organizations
and institutions. Examples of these include the G20/
B20 Summit, Internet Governance Forum, World Internet
Conference – Wuzhen Summit, UN High Level Panel on
Digital Cooperation and G7 Innovation Ministers’ statement
on Artificial Intelligence. Digital topics are now a regular
feature in trade fora, eTrade for All being one example
of ongoing collaboration and learning. On other issues
requiring global cooperation, each of these institutions and
processes make complementary contributions to collective
understanding and action. Each organization has made
tremendous progress in encouraging and establishing
structured dialogue and cooperative processes among its
constituents. Nevertheless, given that many of these digital
dialogues are relatively recent – as are the topics they are
dealing with – there is still some progress to be made in
establishing shared frameworks and policy priorities across
the multiple processes.
Industry-led and other approaches
Industry-based governance approaches are widely used in
a range of different settings, offering a variety of alternative
instruments and benefits. Examples include industry
standards, such as the ISO (International Organization
for Standardization) series, common transparency or
governance practices, standards certifications and marks,
or more formalized self-governance. For example, the
International Swaps and Derivatives Association, where
market participants voluntarily participate not only in
a shared set of rules, but also in binding adjudication
processes and decisions. Such mechanisms can
provide fast and context-based rule-making, monitoring,
enforcement and remediation processes, which can evolve
over time.
–– Industry and market mechanisms: These can take
many forms, from setting market conditions, such as
market-entry standards, product requirements and
standard contract terms, to social obligations, such as
environmental controls, safety regulations or advertising
and labelling requirements
–– Super regulators: Rules and regulations are supplied
by competitive private regulators that are overseen, as
necessary, by public regulators. For example, the EU’s
data protection law on the right to be forgotten gives EU
residents the right to ask technology platforms to remove
certain personal links from their search engine results
–– Setting ethical standards: In the absence of an
organization with sufficient credibility to set new
technology standards, industry leaders have been calling
for the adoption of ethical principles that guide research
and industry activities, such as the Partnership for AI or
the Asilomar AI principles
–– Creating transparency and trust in technology
innovation: Algorithms and data can be seen as
important sources of competitive advantage, but the
development of open IT infrastructure and protocols
provide a vital tool for establishing governance principles
as these are perceived as open, vendor-neutral IT
standards and certifications
Civil society and the technical community
Since their inception, the development of the internet and
the world wide web has been shaped by a rich range
of civil society and technical bodies, such as ICANN,
W3C, IETF and ISOC, to name just a few. Many of these
organizations and the processes that facilitate ongoing
development are highly open and participatory, often driven
or enabled by an open network of volunteers. This unique
model of shared global ownership and open resources,
processes and standards has made the internet what it is
today. The internet ecosystem represents a tremendous
set of resources, participatory mechanisms and capacity
for technical solution development that governments and
business could engage with more fully in the pursuit of
shared goals. Technical bodies are already taking the lead
on standardization of new technologies, for instance, the
IEEE P7000 programme for AI.
Technology-based innovation
As tools, technologies themselves are rarely “the answer”.
However, new technologies (including new architectures and
protocols) can change what is possible. The hype around
blockchain, or distributed ledger technologies (DLT) more
generally, is based on the fact that it offers a game-changing
possibility: the ability to provide assurance and trust
across a system without a centralized authority. Whether
the system is one of financial exchange, voting or land
registry of contracts, this represents a powerful alternative
to the models of centralized authority that have been used
throughout history. DLTs effectively encode and automate
the “rules of the game” and ensure they are tamper-proof.
Nevertheless, the rules of the game still need to be set.
2018–2019 context
Issues regarding the digital economy and society rose on
the agenda for almost every region and policy domain
in 2018, but some topics emerged as broader trends.
The implementation of Europe’s General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) in May 2018 has been pivotal in shifting
and expanding the debate on data protection and privacy
(see Shared Goal 6). Ongoing developments such as the
Aadhaar case have highlighted the foundational nature of
digital identity (see Shared Goal 2). There has been a high
level of concern about the problems caused by malicious
actors, including cybersecurity (see Shared Goal 4) and the
spread of misinformation.
These topics are all expected to continue to grow in
importance in the year ahead, with others likely to join them.
Since the milestone has been reached of 50% of the world’s
population using the internet in 2018, we will probably see
increasing focus on internet access, and efforts at rolling out
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5G will command attention. There is growing recognition of
the potential risk of digital addiction and related harms to the
mental and emotional health of adults and children.
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