Europe’s Digital Economy Strengthening, Says Report | INTUG Europe’s digital economy is growing in strength, spreading throughout all sectors of the economy and reaching into all areas of the lives of its citizens, according to a report published by the European Commission. But if Europe wants to exploit the potential benefits of the digital economy to their full extent, it will have to provide faster broadband, work toward an Internet that people can trust, improve citizens’ skills, and encourage more ICT innovation. The European Commission will soon propose specific measures in these areas with its Digital Agenda for Europe, a flagship of the Europe 2020 strategy. (UPDATE: Digital Agenda web site.) The report identifies the ICT sector as one of the key drivers of the European economy. Since 1995, ICTs have driven half of productivity gains in the EU, thanks to technological progress and investments in the sector. Data for 2004-2007 suggests that this investment has more recently started to deliver efficiency gains in the rest of the economy.
East Asia’s Digital Economy (Video Interview with Dr. Ken Coates) (Part 1/2) | Asia Pacific Memo Memo #125 (Scroll below to see 4 Video Clips) By Ken Coates - kennethcoates [at] gmail.com Over the last quarter century, East Asia has played a dominant role in the digital economy. Taiwan, China, Korea, and Japan host many leading digital manufacturing firms. They exert enormous control over everything from video game consoles and cell phones to netbook computers and digital automotive control systems. As the digital economy grew in size and importance, so has East Asia’s presence in the digital space. The second part of the digital economy, digital content and services, has attracted less attention, but has emerged as a formidable economic and social force. Part 1 – Digital manufacturing and digital content in East Asia (2:17 min) Part 2 – East Asia as a region for digital content (2:35 min) Part 3 – Digital content as an economic sector (2:51 min) Part 4 – Digital manufacturing vs. digital content (2:29 min) Related Memos: Our other Video Interviews
Digital economy bill rushed through wash-up in late night session | Technology The government forced through the controversial digital economy bill with the aid of the Conservative party last night, attaining a crucial third reading – which means it will get royal assent and become law – after just two hours of debate in the Commons. However it was forced to drop clause 43 of the bill, a proposal on orphan works which had been opposed by photographers. They welcomed the news: "The UK government wanted to introduce a law to allow anyone to use your photographs commercially, or in ways you might not like, without asking you first. They have failed," said the site set up to oppose the proposals. But despite opposition from the Liberal Democrats and a number of Labour MPs who spoke up against measures contained in the bill and put down a number of proposed amendments, the government easily won two votes to determine the content of the bill and its passage through the committee stage without making any changes it had not already agreed.
Boom times for Africa’s digital economy There’s no shortage of buzz from AfricaCom in Cape Town South Africa this year. With a booming digital economy it’s easy to understand why. According to a report released by Informa research this week, Africa has more than 616 million mobile subscriptions, making it the world’s second largest mobile market overtaking the Americas and Europe in last 6 months. Analysts point to expensive landline connections in Africa as driving high mobile usage, with expectations for mobile subbrsciptions to grow to 735 million by the end of 2012. The mobile industry is no doubt an enabler of economic development in the region. Innovative mobile services have been launched across the continent supporting agriculture, education, healthcare and banking. The potential of cloud in Africa is also creating buzz. Highly-valued, relevant and local content is another driver for the uptake of internet services. Regulation practices must continue to improve, with more spectrum allocated for mobile broadband. Comments
internet freedom: Controversy Introducing the digital divide debate The phrase 'digital divide' is used by many politicians, commentators and activists. It is the subject of numerous conferences and research papers and a growing number of government and private sector initiatives have been set up to deal with it. The digital divide is an amorphous term encompassing a number of discussions about inequality and the lack of access to Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). Put simply, it is the gap between the information haves and have-nots. The discussion about the digital divide manifests itself in different ways, reflecting national and regional concerns ranging from the need for a skilled workforce to bridging racial division as well as concern about the Third World is being left behind in the implementation of ICTs. This overview will look at various aspects of the discussion, examining the differences and the underlying themes. There are many aspects to the digital divide debate. Warning: include(../..
Agenda: Gartner Portals, Content & Collaboration Summit 2013 | Content Management & Social Software Conference | London, UK Engage to Succeed in the Mobile, Social, Digital Enterprise Social media. Mobility. Context awareness. Non-traditional content. This year's Summit will help IT and business leaders with actionable advice and leading insights to turn complexity into opportunity. 4 Kinds of Exercise for Healthy Data - Smarter Analytics Blog We are often told of the importance of exercise to overall health. Stretching, cardio and strengthening exercises each contributes to maintaining a fit physique. In the context of healthy data, we also need a range of activities to provide the right data to the right place at the right time – both for analytical consumption and any other kind of processing. We aim to thoughtfully balance the accumulation of new data with the reduction in data through archiving or deletion. Decomposing this a little further, we ca n think about four kinds of exercise: 1) 1) Collect – The first step is for us to find and access information of potential interest and then assess whether we think it might be suitable for our purpose. 2) 2) Process – The next step is to gain some deeper insight into the information we have collected and an understanding of the information that we need to deliver. 3) 3) Distribute - The timely delivery of the transformed and cleansed information takes place in this step.