Is Sustainable Economic Development Possible Thanks to the Deployment of ICT?

Abstract

Achieving sustainable economic development is one of humanity’s greatest challenges, and, in this regard, the United Nations has promoted a line of research based on sustainable economic development. In view of this, our study focused on the sustainable economic development of nations, specifically, development through the deployment of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Academic researchers recognize the importance of ICT for economic and sustainable development, but there is controversy in the literature regarding two opposing points of view. First, there is a view that advances in ICT support Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, while, on the other hand, the view is that there is no relationship between these two factors. In view of this, we conducted a study where the objective was to determine whether investing in ICT contributes to sustainable economic development (measured by the GDP per capita) of European Union countries. We used Eurostat data and applied the partial least-squares (PLS) method to address the study. This approach allowed us to analyze European Union countries from 2014 to 2017, using fairly rigorous data. The most outstanding result was that ICT accounted for most of the explained variance in GDP per capita (GDPpp), and, specifically, the most representative indicator was “digital public services.” Therefore, we concluded that investing in the deployment of ICT supports the sustainable economic development of European Union countries. These countries should focus on investing in improved connectivity in areas with poor communications, as well as in training area inhabitants in the use and development of ICT to obtain greater development using these tools and technologies.

Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in Education for Sustainable Development: A Bibliographic Review

“…These types of tools affect the way we communicate, connect with each other or work, and are key to the development of areas such as health, economy or education [1]. Thus, at an individual level, ICTs affect people's daily lives, but at the macro level, these types of tools aim to contribute to the development of a more sustainable future, reducing poverty, improving health, education and the quality of life of many people [2].…”

The Impact of the Gender Digital Divide on Sustainable Development: Comparative Analysis between the European Union and the Maghreb

“…Regarding the influence of ICTs' promotion on the proportion of the SDG that a country can achieve, the "Inclusive Internet" (IINT) index shows a positive effect. In this line, Fernández-Portillo et al [70] argue that the deployment of ICTs can favor sustainable economic development, particularly when connectivity, human capital and use of internet grow. For its part, the GINI index measures wealth inequality, which is also directly related to the achievement of these objectives, as the results of the analysis show, when the wealth inequality is greater, the achievement of the sustainable development goals analyzed is compromised to a greater extent.…”

“…It has long been recognized that growth in productivity and incomes, and improvements in health and education outcomes require investment in infrastructure." In fact, it has become essential for countries who want to promote sustainable economic development to invest in the improvement of the connectivity in the most isolated areas, and in ICT training for all the population, to obtain the performance desired [70]. Despite the different digital divides in existence, ICTs can be a key element in reducing inequalities between regions and countries.…”

The Impact of Government Measures on Business Development in the ICT sector

“…ICT investments support sustainable economic development of EU countries, and the government should make it a priority to increase their investments in improving infrastructure and connectivity and developing trainings for the use and development of ICT, as well as to ease access to ICT [35,36]. Of course, the balance should be kept, the government has a supportive role, without undermining the free market principles [37,10].…”