Spider is a resource center for ICT for Development (ICT4D). Spider functions like a node in a network of actors from academia, public sector, private sector, and civil society. Networking and brokering of knowledge and expertise is combined with support to innovative ICT4D activities in partner countries. The aim of Spider is to support the use of ICT for development and poverty reduction. Read more
IDRC supports research in developing countries to promote growth and development. We work with researchers and innovators in those countries to find practical, long-term solutions to the social, economic, and environmental problems their societies face. Our goal is to bring choice and change to the people who need it most. A Canadian Crown corporation established in 1970, IDRC is guided by an international Board of Governors.
How can IT enable economic growth in developing countries?
In this paper we review theories on the economic significance of IT, telecommunications, and information processing, and discuss the nature of economic effects that should be expected from the diffusion of IT and telecommunications and the increased emphasis on information activities. Economic and social theory converge to the suggestion that IT innovation and intensification of information activities do not lead deterministically to economic growth. Rather, organisations are faced with pressure to work out changes to the ways they do business or deliver their services, and policy makers must plan for a macro-economic environment that facilitates economic and social changes to the benefit of the country. A crucial question which emerges in this context is whether, under the current trends of globalisation, technical and organisational innovation implies homogenisation or diversity.
http://www.oecd.org/document/34/0,3746,en_2649_34499_44416162_1_1_1_1,00.html Eco-innovation will be a key driver of industry efforts to tackle climate change and realise “green growth” in the post-Kyoto era
