Digital development
The challenge:
To date, digital technologies have contributed only incremental benefits in economic, social and political development, and a step-change will be required if they are to deliver the transformational ambitions of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Given the growing embedding of the technology in all development sectors and processes, digital technology is moving from being a tool to achieve development outcomes to being the platform through which development processes are mediated.
Digital development can provide new routes out of poverty. But unless digital alternatives are developed, we risk foregoing the development benefits of new technology; entrenching new digitally-enabled systems of inequality; and enabling digital harms that damage rights and promote injustice.
How we are addressing it:
GDI has the specialist research of the Centre for Digital Development and teaching of the Human and Digital Development group.
The constancy of technological change creates knowledge gaps and a broad digital development research agenda for GDI at all stages of the innovation cycle:
- Infrastructure: supporting systemic policy and strategic actions that develop inclusive digital ecosystems (human, technical, institutional infrastructure)
- Innovation: supporting new digital technologies that promote the achievement of the SDGs
- Implementation: identifying and promoting good practices in design and operationalisation of digital technology
- Impact: tracking the emerging development implications of digital technologies at micro-, meso- and macro levels
Research Projects
Fairwork in the Gig Economy in the Global South
Fairwork is improving pay and conditions in the gig economy, particularly in the Global South
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The Centre for Digital Development
The centre examines the role of information and communication technologies in socio-economic development.
Using Digital Datasets to Identify Positive Deviants in Development
A multi-country programme to identify and propagate outperformance in delivery of development goals.
Scale-up of a primary care intervention for cardiovascular risk management in Indonesia
Building on the potential of mobile technology in the hands of community health volunteers.
Development Implications of Digital Economies (DIODE)
This strategic networks researches the digital economy and its role in developing countries
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Resilience Assessment Benchmarking and Impact Toolkit (RABIT)
Defining resilience, applying resilience metrics, and using those metrics to shape action
Our teaching agenda:
- Management and Information Systems: Change and Development MSc
- Management and Information Systems: Change and Development MSc (Distance Learning)
- Research Methods with International Development MSc
- Development Policy and Management PhD
People and publications:
Click on the names below to read their latest publications or read the latest publications from the Global Development Institute and from the Digital Development working paper series.
- Dr Shamel Azmeh - Lecturer in Technology, Labour and Production
- Dr Natalie Cunningham - Lecturer in Leadership for Development
- Dr Richard Duncombe - Senior Lecturer, Information Systems and Development
- Dr Ping Gao - Senior Lecturer, Information Systems
- Dr Christopher Foster – Presidential Fellow, Industry 4.0
- Prof Richard Heeks - Professor, Digital Development
- Dr Gianluca Iazzolino - Lecturer in Digital Development
- Dr Aarti Krishnan - Hallsworth Research Fellow
- Dr Negar Monazam Tabrizi - Lecturer in Information Systems and Digital Development
- Dr Rose Pritchard - Presidential Fellow in Socio-Environmental Systems
- Dr Jaco Renken - Senior Lecturer, Information and Communication Technology for Development
- Dr Matthew Sharp - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, African Cities Research Consortium
- Dr Gindo Tampubolon - Senior Lecturer, Poverty, Inequality and Growth
PhD Researchers and Post-Doctoral Fellows
- Pfavai Nyajeka - Using Mobiles in Low-Income Countries For Development: Women-Led Enterprises in Zimbabwe
- Jiaying Li - The Impact of Financial Sector Development on Total Factor Productivity in Developing Countries
- Hao Peng- The Impact of E-learning on Chinese Elementary Students
- Luis Rivera Illingworth - Using microdata and big data to measure the digital divide
- Bookie Ezeomah - Digital platforms disrupting agricultural value chains in Nigeria
- Basma Albanna - Leveraging Positive Deviance through the Use of Big Data
- Epiphania Kimaro - ICT4D champion support as a seedbed of ICT4D leadership
- Godfred Amankwaa - From policies to practicalities? Digitisation of urban water services in Ghana
- Kaiyu Xu - Using the system of innovation framework to analyse impacts of policy instruments on fintech system in China
- Mengfei Zhou - Managing innovation ecosystems to co-create value in a service-dominant platform: multiple case studies in Chinese universities
- Ritse Erumi - Inclusive innovation intermediaries as agents of development: the case of inclusive digital innovation targeting women entrepreneurs in East Africa
- Xinlun Jiang - Studying the innovation ecosystem transition of IT start-ups in China: government and venture capital perspectives
- Yue Zhai - Governance and stakeholders of smart cities: the case of “X Smart City” projects in China