Abstract
Did the Bank support client countries in rolling out new technologies, building communications infrastructures, and investing in information resources for sustainable development? What factors were influential in recognizing and responding to country needs and demands for digital development assistance? The author organized a Bank task force to examine ICT role in Bank lending, and drafted a staff manifesto that was presented to the Bank’s senior management and disseminated widely among staff. The task force advocated a proactive approach to apply digital technologies across sectors in Bank-funded development projects. Building ICT assistance competencies would be critical to the Bank’s future relevance and the quality of its portfolio across all economic sectors. Systemic constraints were identified to mainstream digital development.
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Notes
- 1.
See, for example, IAD, 1998, “Report on Follow Up Review of Informatics,” World Bank.
- 2.
I was grateful to several senior Bank managers who invited me to present the case for digital development assistance at their regional staff meetings. Yet, despite their seniority, these managers felt they lacked the authority or mandate to initiate or institutionalize such assistance.
- 3.
One exception was the privatization of telecommunications and the strengthening of the regulatory framework. On the opposite side, the US government may have been lukewarm to Bank assistance to develop the ICT (software) industries in potentially-competing developing countries. More positively, USAID, DEFID, and other bilateral agencies have supported innovative uses of digital technologies for agricultural development, social sectors, and targeted poverty alleviation.
- 4.
Wolfensohn’s attention was divided over creating external ventures and spinoffs to promote ICT for development such as the Development Gateway (DG). However, he supported pioneering e-Sri Lanka, which was a first ecosystem-wide transformation project to be mainstreamed. A pity it came to his attention near the end of his tenure.
- 5.
See some relevant publications on innovation and knowledge economy at end of reference list.
- 6.
One exception was a series of trust-funded studies of technology institutions and factors leading to their effectiveness in promoting and diffusing industrial technologies (Goldman et al. 2013).
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Hanna, N.K. (2024). Responding to the Digital Revolution. In: Economic Development in the Digital Age. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54569-6_4
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