Information Economy Report 2011

The Information Economy Report 2011: ICTs as an Enabler for Private Sector Development (PSD) [PDF 164pp] is the sixth in the flagship series published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The Report shows that the potential of leveraging information and communication technologies (ICTs) to develop the private sector is far from fully exploited.It finds that many national and donor strategies related to PSD currently fail to take adequate account of the ICT potential, which has greatly expanded thanks to changes in the global ICT landscape. The Report then makes policy recommendations on how to remedy this situation.

The Information Economy Report 2011 identifies four facets of the ICT-PSD interface and argues that policy interventions should take into account this holistic approach.

1. ICT infrastructure as a factor in the investment climate.
2. ICT use as a factor to improve the performance of the private sector.
3. The ICT producing sector as a strategic component of the private sector.
4. ICT use as a component of interventions aimed at facilitating PSD.

Executive Summary: English [PDF 4pp]