Change the Conversation, Change the Venue and Change Our Future

The Internet, together with the information communications technology (ICT) that underpins it, is a critical national resource for governments, a vital part of national infrastructures and a key driver of economic growth. Over the last 40 years, and particularly since the year 2000, governments and businesses have embraced the Internet, and ICT's potential to generate income and employment, provide access to businesses and information, enable e-learning and facilitate government activities. In some countries, the Internet contributes up to eight percent of gross domestic product (GDP),¹ and recent reports suggest that the industrial Internet opportunity (through modernization) represents a 46 percent share of the global economy.²

Today, businesses around the world tender services and products through the Internet to more than 2.5 billion citizens using secure protocols and electronic payments. Services range from e-government, e-voting, e-banking, e-health and e-learning to next generation power grids, air traffic control and other essential services, all of which depend on a single infrastructure ³ The Internet is the fuel of the global economy and the backbone of the international financial system.

No country can afford to put their economy at risk....

Continue reading: http://www.cigionline.org/publications/2013/5/change-conversation-change-venue-and-change-our-future

¹ From David Dean et al., (2012). The Digital Manifesto: How Companies and Countries Can Win in the Digital Economy. Boston Consulting Group report. Perspectives, 27. January.

² From Peter C. Evans and Marco Annunziata (2012). Industrial Internet: Pushing the Boundaries of Minds and Machines. General Electric report. 26 November. Page 13.

³ Services and applications include, but are not limited to: e-mail and text messaging; voice-over-IP-based applications; streaming video and real-time video-conferencing; social networking; e-government; e-banking; e-health, e-learning; mapping; search capabilities; e-books; and IPTV over the Internet.