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Digital divide in a growing world
In November 2022, the world population reached 8 billion and it is expected to continue to grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030. The world is also expected to continue urbanizing - from 56 per cent of the total population living in urban areas in 2021 to 68 per cent in 2050. This would result in an increase of 2.2 billion urban dwellers, living mostly in Africa and Asia. In 2022, 73 per cent of the world’s population over 10 years of age owned a mobile phone (compared to 67 per cent in 2019). The number of internet users climbed to 5.3 billion (66 per cent of global population), which represented an increase of 24 per cent since 2019. However, 2.7 billion people remained offline. In addition, social media users nearly doubled from 2.3 billion in 2016, to 4.2 billion in 2021.
This fast pace of the world population’s involvement in the digital sphere, paired with rapid technological change involving new and emerging technologies, significantly affects the development of public administration systems worldwide. The aim is to make sure that these developments are making the lives of people better and support the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and its Goals. Going forward, efforts are urgently needed to, among others, address digital divides, improve data governance, and mitigate risks arising from the use of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and social media, through new policy and regulatory regimes and standards.
Ensuring broad digital access
National digital strategies should focus on concrete results and ensure widespread introduction of digital technologies which is particularly important to close digital divides within and between countries. Overall, they should aim at enhancing the lives and well-being of people. One main challenge of a transition to large-scale implementation of innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), is the removal of barriers that prevent their widespread use such as the difficulty for developers to access unbiased and complete datasets.
Development of domestic technologies and software products
As part of their national digital strategies, States should stimulate the development of and purchase critically important domestic information technology, carried out to meet State and municipal needs, which could in turn make them more digitally empowered, including by allocating annual budgets for their development. Investments and incentives to support domestic development and manufacturing could be used to facilitate the digitalization of public administrations. Some countries, for example, introduced policies to reduce taxes for organizations working in the field of information technology.
End-to-end technologies
The further development of end-to-end technological solutions should be encouraged given their impact on structural changes in the economy, on the creation of new industries and businesses and on the production of technologically advanced and innovative products and services. There is, for example, a need to move away from isolated experiments and pilot initiatives to the launch of end-to-end AI solutions, especially in areas that determine the quality of human life. Such technologies should become available as soon as possible to serve people and help achieve the 2030 Agenda.
Public sector engineers and IT specialists
Innovative technological projects are not going to be feasible without improving the quality of training for engineers and IT specialists. Their education should remain part of school curricula. In addition, educating a new generation of engineers and IT specialists in developing countries should be supported by international organizations and bilateral donors. A related important measure is also ensuring adequate renumeration and financing to improve the living conditions of public sector workers involved in the field of information technology, especially to discourage brain drain from developing countries.
Information security
The security of information systems and communication networks of public institutions needs to be improved, particularly to reduce the risks of leaks and misuse of confidential information and personal data of citizens. This can, among others, be achieved through stricter review and guidance on the use of official equipment and information and communication tools.
Use of cryptocurrency in financial transactions
A notable trend of digitalization has been the growth in cryptocurrency markets, which calls for a completely new form of regulatory oversight by States. Cryptocurrencies are secured using cryptographic techniques. Transactions are done digitally through encrypted technology known as blockchain. The use of cryptocurrencies comes with opportunities but also challenges, which could damage public administration systems and undermine stability, especially in developing countries. Among others, it could lead to financial stability risks. In addition, cryptocurrencies may become a widespread means of payment and even replace domestic currencies unofficially, which could endanger the monetary sovereignty of countries. A question also arises regarding the calculation and remittance of taxes when making transactions in cryptocurrency.
By Henry Sardaryan Member of the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) and Dean, School of Governance and Politics, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Russian Federation