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Key Message

There is great potential to transform sustainable development through the interface of technology and social organization; but also great risk that the technology may drive unsustainable practices instead.

Team


Heather Creech· Heather Creech
Director - Global Connectivity
Don MacLean· Don MacLean
Associate
Terri Willard· Terri Willard
Associate
Tony Vetter· Tony Vetter
Associate

Information Society

Exploring the potential of information, communication and knowledge for sustainable development

What's New in Information Society?

  • Innovation in the Governance of Technology and Society: Progress on Internet Governance (PDF - 701 kb)
    This report explores progress on the evolution of Internet policy and decision-making, the key institutions involved, and the importance of the debate to developing countries. The continuation of the Internet Governance Forum will be key to ensuring the open and candid exchange of ideas and best practices among all Internet stakeholders-including governments, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, industry, the private sector, civil society, academia and the Internet technical community-continues at the international level. Further, lessons learned from finding new approaches to decision-making around the Internet and its related technologies have relevance for the governance of technology in other domains, in particular the central concept of "shared responsibility."

  • Review of the Mandate of the Internet Governance Forum: A response from IISD
    (PDF - 418 kb)
    The upcoming fourth annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meeting November 2009 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt marks the start of an evaluation process of the five-year mandate of the forum, ending in 2010. IISD prepared the following response to seven questions posed by the Secretariat soliciting inputs for a synthesis document to support the UN Secretary General's formal consultation with IGF participants. IISD is broadly supportive of the IGF and has affirmed that the IGF should renew its mandate for a second five-year term.

  • The Internet of Things: A killer app for global environmental sustainability?
    (Google Video - 13:43 min)
    What is the "Internet of Things"? It is the integration of the physical world and the Internet, an information space created by emerging applications that enable humans to monitor and interact with their environment. Tony Vetter discusses at the Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad, India how "Internet of Things" policy and architecture should be built on sustainable development objectives.

  • Global Connectivity focuses on new challenges for sustainable development
    IISD announces the new Global Connectivity program, which describes our broader, ongoing focus on new and emerging challenges for sustainable development. Global Connectivity replaces the Knowledge Communications program to incorporate how technology, in particular communications technology, is supporting and changing how we organize our governing systems, our economies, and our cultures in unprecedented ways.

  • Digital Wish List: Heather Creech
    Heather was asked by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to think about what Canada needs to do now in order to be considered a major innovator in the future. Her "digital wish" is for a return to the vision of Canada as a connected country. This means establishing a set of national policies for broadband access and cellular phone services, and making sure these tools are accessible to all Canadians. Canada used to be a global leader in broadband access, but as the rest of the world catches up and passes us, Canadians are finding it harder to participate and compete in the digital global arena.

As the world moves from an industrial-based economy to a more connected, knowledge-driven, "information society," it faces new and old challenges for sustainable development. The application of knowledge—as manifested in areas such as entrepreneurship and innovation; research and development; software and design; and in people's education and skills levels—is now recognized to be one of the key success factors in the global marketplace.[1] It is also crucial for ensuring that such success is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.

There are indeed countries that show that significant advances are possible in the short and long run through implementation of strategies for increasing a country's ability to generate, obtain and apply knowledge.[2] In developing countries, reduction of poverty, child mortality and disease pandemics, as well as improvement of education, gender equality, maternal health and environmental protection, are the priorities articulated by the Millennium Development Goals. There is wide recognition[3] that the world possesses the knowledge necessary to meet these goals; the gap between the production and the use of knowledge in policy and practice, however, is also widely acknowledged. The Netherlands Development Assistance Research Council finds, for example, that the gap exists "due to weak linkages between knowledge producers and knowledge users, and between knowledge production and innovation."[4] Our own research supports these conclusions.

Over the years, IISD's research and work on the links between the emerging information society and sustainable development have focused on two areas:

IISD publishes periodic informal notes on our observations of trends and key issues in ICT for sustainable development. You can download the 2004 note (PDF - 143 kb) and the 2005 note (PDF - 151 kb).

Contents

[1] Dahlman, Carl. "World Bank Knowledge Economy: Products and Strategy: emerging lessons" in Knowledge for Development." Washington, DC: World Bank Institute, 2003.

[2] Chen, Derek H. C. and Carl J. Dahlman. "The Knowledge Economy, the KAM Methodology and World Bank Operations." Washington, DC: World Bank, 2005. 14.

[3] See, for example, Human Development Report 2005, p. 17, the official UNDP Web site, and the official World Bank Group Web site.

[4] Netherlands Development Assistance Research Council (RAWOO). "Mobilizing Knowledge to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals." 2005. 1. http://www.rawoo.nl/pdf/Rawoo27.pdf