Digitalization, Development and Social Innovation

This paper builds on two decades of research on internet governance with a focus on development and capacity building and links to emerging work on challenges of digitalization and sustainable development and within that the mode of social innovation. Study of the interplay among these elements (each of which has a multi-stakeholder component involved) begins to fill a knowledge gap that cuts across international relations, communication, and innovation related research fields. Scholarship on digitalization and on internet governance proceeds somewhat separately from scholarship on development and social innovation. There has been, however, some important examples of internet governance and digitalization in the context of capacity building. See, for example, transcripts of the Internet Governance Forum Open Consultations at www.intgovforum.org where capacity building is one of the central themes in multistakeholder discussion of that forum’s agenda planning. (The Internet Governance Forum is a twelve-year-old institution that promotes dialogue across stakeholders including those from developed and developing countries.) See also the Executive Summary from the twelfth annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum that highlights a track dealing with digitalization. There is a gap in the literature and a need for a holistic evidence-based framework for examining together: digitalization, governance-related issues, and capacity building in developing nations with a focus on social innovation. Thus, the research reported here presents a comprehensive review of literatures from the fields of international development, international organization, digitalization, social innovation, and internet governance to serve as a foundation for a holistic framework for policy planning related to digitalization and international development. It includes international organization because international organizations such as the World Bank and the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) are beginning to grapple with and promote knowledge transfer about digitalization in the context of development challenges. This framework also includes a vital focus on both social and economic aspects of development as well as on the roles of multiple stakeholders including civil society and the private sector. Highlighting factors that impede as well as factors that facilitate, the framework references the necessary ecosystem as well as government and other stakeholder roles. While there is little consensus about the long term impacts of digitalization-especially with regard to international development, there are important policy and practice implications that emerge from the research project findings reported here.