ICTD InfoBank: A Knowledge Sharing Portal on ICTD for the Asia-Pacific region

By 2050, the number of people aged 65 years or older is projected to reach 1.5 billion. "Ageing in a digital world - from vulnerable to valuable" is the first- ever report to be produced by ITU to raise awareness in the ICT sector on the importance of being prepared to respond to the needs and requirements of ageing populations. This report addresses the two global megatrends that reinforce each other: the emergence of digital technologies and ageing populations, both of which are predicted to bring about important socio-economic changes worldwide.

To examine the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on Indonesia’s trade with ASEAN partner countries and the use of ICT on business activities (e-commerce), we use a quantitative analysis of static panel data with a gravity model approach. The study period covers the years 2010 to 2018 and it includes a cross section consisting of nine ASEAN member countries from Indonesia’s trading partners.

We examine the evolutionary stages and current state of e-government in post-Soviet transition countries, shedding light on Uzbekistan as a case study. The previous literature on e-government in developing countries emphasized the considerable positive impact of e-government, including enhanced state services provision, controlled corruption, and more transparent and inclusive governance.

Most developing and emerging economies face an urgent need to scale up sustainable finance for low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure investment, yet underdeveloped capital markets tend to inhibit domestic resource mobilization for infrastructure investment. At the same time, domestic savers in many developing and emerging economies face a scarcity of “safe” assets in the local currency, resulting in the exporting of capital to financial centers in advanced economies.

We identify the role of digitalization and infrastructure in two fast-growing Asian economies, namely India and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), within the growth framework from1990 to 2019 by using panel 2SLS and the NARDL technique.

Prior research shows that technology spillovers across firms increase innovation, productivity, and value. We study how firms finance their own growth stimulated by technology spillovers from their technological peer firms. We find that greater technology spillovers lead to higher leverage. This is the result of technology spillovers increasing asset redeployability, as evidenced by more collateralized borrowing and asset transactions. Borrowing costs also decrease.

The "leave no one behind" principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires appropriate indicators for different segments of a country’s population. This entails detailed, granular data on population groups that extend beyond national trends and averages. ADB collaborated with the National Statistical Office of Thailand and the Word Data Lab for the feasibility study, which aimed to enhance the granularity, cost-effectiveness, and compilation of high-quality poverty statistics in Thailand.

Satellite communication plays an important role in the global connectivity ecosystem. It connects rural and remote populations, provides backhaul connectivity to mobile cellular networks, and enables rapid communications for emergency and disaster responses. Low Earth orbit constellations may prove to be transformational to the connectivity landscape based on their global coverage and their suitability for areas not served by fiber optic cable networks.

The “leave no one behind” principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires appropriate indicators to be estimated for different segments of a country’s population. The guidebook was based on a feasibility study by ADB, in collaboration with the Philippine Statistics Authority, the National Statistical Office of Thailand, and the World Data Lab, that aimed to enhance the granularity, cost-effectiveness, and compilation of high-quality poverty statistics.

Education systems in under-resourced environments face several challenges, some of them exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. A possible way to address some of the challenges is to apply information and communication technologies. However, effectively integrating technology into education systems is a complex task. In this paper, factors contributing to successful integration of technology in education are explored, with a focus on under-resourced contexts.