Contribution of ICT to Economic Development and Social Cohesion in Latin America
The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, with the sponsorship of the Telefonica Foundation and the Intel Corporation, has launched a study aimed at assessing the impact of Information and Communication Technologies in the social and economic development in Latin America. The study is led by Dr. Raul Katz, Director of Business Strategy Research, supported by a team of analysts based in the region and at Columbia.
The objectives of the program are to:
Analyze how is ICT contributing to the economic and social development of Latin America Align the strategic priorities of each country in the region Identify the dynamic elements of innovation and modernization that ICT can bring to key sectors of Latin American economies Assess, with particular emphasis, the impact of ICT in the creation, development and enhancement of efficiencies of the Small and Medium Enterprise sector in the region Identify best practices regarding initiatives for collaboration between the public and private sectors in ICT development Explore the experience of emerging and industrialized economies of the Asia/Pacific region that could be of relevance to the Latin American region Detail the options regarding public policy and their implications for the development of broadband and other ICT platforms
The study comprises the development of ten workshops in the region, attended by opinion leaders of the academia, the public and private sectors. So far, workshops have been held in Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Mexico. In the next month, sessions will be held in Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Uruguay and Panama. An example of the documents presented at each workshop can be downloaded. A collaborative web-based platform will be deployed to allow workshop participants to continue dialoging with their counterparts around the study issues. The results of the study will be communicated in a book to be published in the course of 2008.
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