Boosting the Social Development of the Majority Through the Creation of a Wireless Knowledge Society

Background

The United Nations Millennium Declaration (United Nations, n.d.) noted that efforts to make internet access available to all and to harness the power of ICT could contribute toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), thereby creating “digital opportunities” in development. The ongoing debate on the new set of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reignites the interest for the ICT in a contest of emerging knowledge economies and societies.

The ICT can facilitate the participation of lower income populations, the majority at the base of the pyramid, according to the definition given in (Prahalad, 2005) in the development process by directly tackling relevant aspects, which precisely hinder their integration into social and economic development. Such aspects concern:

• •

  Limited knowledge and literacy which impairs access to skills and jobs (education);

• •

  Poor health and sanitary conditions limiting employability and risk-taking attitudes (health);

• •

  Scarcity of economic opportunities (economy);

• •

  Limited involvement in civic life and in the democratic processes, as well as uneasy access to public services (government).

The following successful sustainable practices, show how ICT can help reducing the risks of exclusion related to the aspects cited above, thus contributing to the integration of lower income populations into social and economic development. Based on the lesson learned from the practices, we draw some conclusions and offer some recommendations. These recommendations are the basis for forward-looking scenarios that can be realized through the deployment of ICT towards the attainment of an inclusive economic growth process for all, meeting social development and poverty reduction objectives, as expressed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration.