The Digital Balance between Industrialised and Developing Countries: Futures Studies for Development

Abstract

The purpose of researching the digital balance between industrialised and developing countries was to discover how information and communication technology (ICT), content and e-services developed in Finland will work on the African continent, and vice versa. Globalisation and the associated new international division of labour and well-being require a continuous renewal of Finland's national economy and production structures. This increasingly fast process of change is shaping the new economy, in the context of the information society, into a phenomenon characterised by cultural know-how and creativity. During the first phase of the information society the Finnish national economy made money with technology (with mobile phones, electronic machines, etc.) During the second phase, it is making money by using the technology (by content and services). During the third phase, the weight of development is moving away from the physical infrastructure towards social infrastructure. The products of the third phase include the concepts and formats of culture and well-being — education, innovation and health care systems and their management. The research identified two practical tools for developing this kind of social infrastructure for globally sustainable development: 1. networking African and Finnish futures studies experts, and 2. developing multidisciplinary development research clusters between Finland and Africa. Should such initiatives be taken they will eventually contribute to the diminishing of the current digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world.