Our Digital World

Digitizing our connected world

This report presents an overview of the key ways in which our world is digitizing, and the growth in digital services:

Historically, bridging the digital divide was seen as an issue of providing good-quality infrastructure to unconnected areas and communities, but this is now seen as just one initial step towards universal and meaningful Internet connectivity (Chapter 1). Addressing affordability issues and skills gaps are also essential to ensuring people in developing countries can access the Internet to find relevant and meaningful content and services.
Digitizing real-world services raises various other issues (Chapter 2), including accessing relevant and real-time services on the move.
Fast-changing AI has broad implications (i.e. across various sectors), cross-cutting implications (e.g. moving from search engines to more specialized, assisted search) and deep implications. (Chapter 3).
Finally, data is everywhere, generated by all of us as we go about our daily activities, and increasingly, between machines, with limited or no human input. New and important issues are arising in how governments approach data, its use, storage and transmission (Chapter 4).