The views expressed in this presentation are the views of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank, or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this presentation and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this presentation do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.

Ramping Up Information and Communications Technology

for DevelopmentOlivier Serrat

2016

ICT in the 21st Century

• Ever faster and cheaper, information and communications technology (ICT) allows people to seek, acquire, and share expertise, ideas, services, and technologies; boosts efficiency and productivity; reduces transaction costs and barriers to entry; provides the means for sweeping reorganization of business; and generally makes markets work better.

• ICT has already transformed the financial services, media, retail, and telecommunications sectors. Through the globalization it simultaneously feeds on and accelerates, it is reshaping societies, economies, and governments worldwide.

ICT are technologies that facilitate by electronic means the processing, transmission, and display of information.

The New Dimensions of ICT

• Applications• Control Centers• Helpdesks• Information Technology

Security

• Big Data• Data Analytics• Data Management• Data Mining

• Cloud Computing• Internet of Things• Remote Sensing• Sensor Technology

• Broadband• Mobile Devices• Next Generation Systems• Wireless Technology and

Optical FibersConnectivity Structure

SupportUsage

Why ICTD?

ICT is so embedded in our lives we no longer realize it is at play. But, this is not yet the case everywhere: "ICT for Development" (ICTD) springs from the desire to leverage ICT to propel economic and social progress and enhance its effects in developing countries.

Almost half the world lives on less than $2.50 a day. Developing countries that harness ICT can leapfrog stages of development by:

Increasing avenues for economic and political engagement.

Strengthening social networks.

Making public services more efficient.

Without ICT, the efforts of developing countries to connect, innovate, and transform will be stymied. Their endeavors to produce, diffuse, and use ICT require substantial investment—both public and private—in policy and regulatory frameworks, infrastructures, applications, and capacities and skills for ICT.

The ICTD Ecosystem

Policy and Regulatory Framework

Infrastructure (including

connectivity)

Applications (including

contents and services)

Capacities and Skills

Opportunity

Performance

Quality, Knowledge,

and Innovation

Ramping Up ADB's Role in ICTD—Strategic Thrusts, 2016–2017

Identify ICT Options in ADB's

Operations

Diversify ICT Portfolios in

ADB's Operations

Develop ADB's Capacity for ICT

Operations

Leverage Knowledge

Partnerships in ICT

Ramping Up ADB's Role in ICTD—Results Framework, 2016–2017

Results and Contributing Actions/Outputs

Indicator Responsibility Center

Time Frame and

Target

1. ICT Options in ADB's Operations are Identified1.1 ICT issues in strategic and operational documents are peer-reviewed.

1.2 Country-level assessments of ICT options are conducted.

2. ICT Portfolios in ADB's Operations are Diversified

2.1 Technical assistance for high-priority ICT projects and capacity development is extended.

2.2 ICT is featured in country partnership strategies and attendant country operations business plans in selected developing members countries.

Ramping Up ADB's Role in ICTD—Results Framework, 2016–2017

Results and Contributing Actions/Outputs

Indicator Responsibility Center

Time Frame and

Target

3. ADB's Capacity for ICT Operations is Developed3.1 ICT skills of targeted staff are built.3.2 Informal knowledge-sharing activities on ICT-related topics are conducted, leading to case studies of and briefings on, say, successful applications in key sectors and short-format publications.

4. Knowledge Partnerships in ICT are Leveraged4.1 A regional knowledge network of centers of excellence in ICT is instituted.

4.2 The quantity and quality of knowledge capabilities in ICT is enriched by learning in strategic alliances.

Ramping Up ADB's Role in ICTD—Outcomes and Impact, 2016–2017

Intermediate Outcomes

ICT options in ADB's operations are identifiedICT portfolios in ADB's operations are diversifiedADB's capacity for ICT operations is developedKnowledge partnerships in ICT are leveraged

Outcomes

Enhanced policy and regulatory frameworks for ICT operationsStrengthened DMC capacity to utilize ICT for developmentIncreased investments in ICT-led and ICT-enabled operations

Impact

A narrowed digital divide and better, inclusive service delivery to the public through ICT

DMC = developing member country.

Illustrative ICTD OpportunitiesSector/Theme OpportunityClimate Change ICT can play multiple roles at all stages of climate change—from monitoring

it, adapting to it, mitigating its impacts, and developing long-term solutions—in sectors such as energy, housing, transport, etc. To note, ICT itself contributes to climate change through the proliferation of user devices, all of which require power and radiate heat.

Disaster Risk Management

ICT can improve early warning systems; supports rapid assessments; and facilitates communication, coordination, and management of resources.

Education ICT strengthens education system capacity, facilitates access to educational services, and improves teacher ability to deliver those services. In higher education, for one, ICT is beginning to globalize open, online, and flexible systems that deliver cost-effective and equitable pathways to just-in-time, mobile learning.

Energy Beyond "build and grow", smart grids are the emerging paradigm: they are webs of technologies aiming to automate, improve efficiency, monitor, and increase the availability of electric grids at generation, transmission, and distribution levels. ICT can rejig business models.

Illustrative ICTD OpportunitiesSector/Theme Opportunity

Environment ICT that frees detailed trend and real-time data offers promising solutions to enhance monitoring, policy design, regulations, and citizen engagement for environmental management. This can enable significant transformations of economic and social structures, human activities, and governance processes to accelerate transitions to green growth.

Finance ICT can promote the cost-effectiveness, stability, and integrity of financial systems and advance consumer protection, security, and transparency. The alternative delivery channels for financial services it makes possible include automated teller machines (ATMs); agent banking; call centers; e-wallets; extension services, e.g., field staff, mini-branches, and "branches on wheels"; as well as internet banking, all of which quicken financial inclusion.

Illustrative ICTD OpportunitiesSector/Theme Opportunity

Gender Equity ICT can enrich the education, health, and material asset endowments of women, whose mobility and time constraints are more severe compared to men. ICT-enabled jobs in banking, insurance, printing, and publishing, for example, are likely to be taken up by women. Social media can also empower women to participate and have a stronger voice in society.

Health Growing and aging populations challenge healthcare spending and dictate a shift away from treatment to predicting, diagnosing, and monitoring. ICT can drive sector-wide improvements in accountability, efficiency, and transparency. E-health and e-medicine have an increasingly important role to play. Opportunities also exist for medical services in times of crisis.

Illustrative ICTD OpportunitiesSector/Theme OpportunityICT A reliable ICT infrastructure for storage and connectivity is the basis for the

operation of all ICT-related services across sectors. This said. reaping in full the opportunities ICT provides means that priority topics such as sustainable and redundant international and domestic connectivity, coverage, sustainable O&M, processes, quality of service, performance, standardization, security, affordable tariffs, storage, resiliency, well trained staff and adequate budgets for capital expenditure (capex) and operating expenditure (opex) must be addressed. At a higher level, the development of ICT infrastructure must to go hand in hand with ICT-related national or regional strategies, policy and regulatory frameworks, and reliable power supply.

Public–Private Partnership

The need for public–private partnerships is likely to grow in the first and middle miles, but also where clients live in rural and remote areas but demand justifies their formation. Beyond the ICT sector per se, partnerships that leverage ICT are both feasible and necessary in a wide range of sectors such as education, health, transport, urban, and water.

Illustrative ICTD OpportunitiesSector/Theme Opportunity

Public Sector Management

Open government is gaining momentum. Increasingly, ICT can be used to hold governments accountable, raise efficiency, and improve transparency. By helping monitor and report on trends and events and engage citizens in dialog, the participation it fosters can also optimize service delivery.

Regional Cooperation and Integration

Regional cooperation and integration and ICT are highly complementary: the first opens economies of scale and more diversified business opportunities for ICT investments while the latter enables broader scope and greater depth of real economic activity within and across sectors, this without the need for physical connectivity in the case of services. On top, "cross-border mobility" of skilled and scarce professionals can take place on demand without the need for physical travel. Furthermore, with nation-wide internet access that is also operable across countries, any business can take advantage of cross-border physical logistics systems to conduct what business requires physical movement. Cont’d

Illustrative ICTD OpportunitiesSector/Theme Opportunity

Regional Cooperation and Integration Cont’d

Cont’d Thus, ICT is instrumental in trade facilitation through enhancing production networks and supply chains. The internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use a protocol commonly known as TCP/IP—short for Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol—to link billions of devices worldwide. Evidently, this international network can be better managed if countries cooperate, for instance in information technology security. Additionally, the internet can also serve as a powerful accelerator of regional cooperation and integration; the vast landscape encompasses internet governance, common digital markets, and the provision or safeguard of regional and global public goods.

Rural Development and Food Security

ICT can serve rural communities by providing local content and basic services to people who are marginalized by distance or geography. It can also help rural communities stay in touch, eliminate intermediaries, directly access markets and value chains, grow bargaining power, facilitate the provision of agriculture extension services, aid long-distance learning, improve farm productivity, and develop nonagricultural economic activities.

Illustrative ICTD OpportunitiesSector/Theme Opportunity

Social Protection ICT can enable client identification, registration, and tracking; transaction processing using management information systems; cash delivery; and monitoring and evaluation. Opportunities also exist to support citizen feedback and grievance redress systems and monitor and assess spatial dimensions of poverty and vulnerability.

Transport Intelligent transportation systems emphasize safety, management, and efficiency. But, ICT can also lessen environmental impact, for example through guidance systems that lead motorists to the most appropriate parking spaces, which reduces engine time; use of the Global Positioning System for navigation or vehicle dispatch, which cuts journey time; and road pricing schemes that encourage greater use of public transport, which alleviates congestion and reduces energy use.

Illustrative ICTD OpportunitiesSector/Theme Opportunity

Urban Development Cloud-based services, increasingly powerful mobile phones, sensors, big data, and data analytics present huge opportunities for cities to enter new phases of technological development and better deliver services. Game-changing opportunities exist across most aspects of urban life including education, energy and other utilities, health, inclusion, and urban mobility, as well as related urban planning. Integrated and comprehensive Geographic information systems applications for planning, implementing, and monitoring urban development are keys tools and mechanisms that can ensure cohesion, efficiency, and smooth articulation across all urban sub-sectors. Smart and connected buildings using cutting-edge material would enhance the optimization and sharing of resources, Community-based mapping and planning would help improve local governance and civil society engagement.

Illustrative ICTD OpportunitiesSector/Theme Opportunity

Water Integrating ICT such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems in water and sanitation projects can, for instance, reduce the cost and duration of monitoring and inventory activities, disseminate hydrological information, improve efficiency gains of water service providers, track water use with remote sensing, improve collection rates of water service providers through ICT based-payment systems, ensure better services to the poor, decrease business and physical non-revenue water, optimize water pressure and pumping stations energy efficiency, measure water quality and implement water safety plans, and strengthen citizen voice and accountability frameworks.

Further Reading• ADB. 2008. Strategy 2020: Working for an Asia and Pacific

Free of Poverty. Manila. www.adb.org/documents/strategy-2020-working-asia-and-pacific-free-poverty

• ——. 2009. Social Network Analysis. Manila. www.adb.org/publications/social-network-analysis

• ——. 2009. Writing Weblogs. Manila. www.adb.org/publications/writing-weblogs

• ——. 2009. Collaborating with Wikis. Manila. www.adb.org/publications/collaborating-wikis

Further Reading• ADB. 2009. Enhancing Knowledge Management under

Strategy 2020, Plan of Action, 2009–2011. Manila. www.adb.org/documents/knowledge-management-action-plan-2009-2011

• ——. 2010. Social Media and the Public Sector. Manila. www.adb.org/publications/social-media-and-public-sector

• ——. 2010. E-Learning and the Workplace. Manila. www.adb.org/publications/e-learning-and-workplace

• ——. 2014. Midterm Review of Strategy 2020: Meeting the Challenges of a Transforming Asia and Pacific. Manila. www.adb.org/documents/midterm-review-strategy-2020-meeting-challenges-transforming-asia-and-pacific-r-paper

Further Reading• ADB. 2014. Midterm Review of Strategy 2020 Action Plan.

Manila. www.adb.org/documents/midterm-review-strategy-2020-action-plan

• ——. 2016. Ramping Up ADB's Role in Information and Communications Technology for Development—ICTD Team Work Plan, 2016–2017. Manila.

• ——. 2016. Road to 2030: Information and Communications Technology in ADB's Corporate Strategy and Operations. Manila. www.adb.org/projects/documents/helping-transform-asia-and-pacific-support-for-adb-new-corporate-strategy-jul-2016-dpta

Videos• ADB. 2014. The Evolution of Information and Communications

Technology in ADB. Manila. vimeo.com/123063686• ADB. 2014. Increasing Access to Information in ADB. Manila.

vimeo.com/123063689• ADB. 2014. Milestones in ADB's Information Systems and

Technology. Manila. vimeo.com/123073445• ADB. 2014. The Use of New Technologies in ADB. Manila.

vimeo.com/123073450• ADB. 2014. ADB's Information Systems and Technology

Strategy, 2013–2018. Manila. vimeo.com/123079790

Videos• ADB. 2014. "Digital ADB": Adopting New Technologies in the

Digital Era. Manila. vimeo.com/123080137• ADB. 2014. Expanding and Integrating Technology in ADB's

Operations. Manila. vimeo.com/123080140• ADB. 2014. Digital Interaction with Partners. Manila.

vimeo.com/124399624

Quick Response Codes

@ADB

@ADB Sustainable Development Timeline

@Academia.edu

@LinkedIn

@ResearchGate

@Scholar

@SlideShare

@Twitter