Digital Divide and Digital Multiplier: A Paradigm Shift through Innovation

This chapter discusses the key factors that facilitate and support the creation of an environment in which innovations are more likely to succeed, and highlights recommendations to make Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) key enablers in realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These recommendations arise from adopting a multi-stakeholder approach to support innovations. The stakeholders’ roles are analyzed by focusing on how they interact through ICT-enabled platforms that allow establishing new and previously unachievable interconnections in the development of innovations. Examples of such ICT-enabled platforms are discussed by focusing on their potential benefits and associated risks, which ultimately depend on the existence of proper technologies as well as an enabling policy, regulatory and economic environment to support different pillars in the innovation ecosystem, including the role of gender in innovation, and the potential for positive spillovers to create digital multipliers that foster useful innovations and enhance productivity.