Context:

• Rapid Technological Transformation will be a key feature of the economy well into the Future.
• At the National, Regional and global levels, frontier technologies are offering promising new opportunities, but are also introducing new policy challenges.

Emerging Technologies and their Challenges:

• The march of technological innovation has long boosted economic performance, improved efficiency, accelerated the pace of globalization,and transformed human society in the process.
• But as the defining issue of our time, the digital revolution demands renewed policy cooperation at all levels of governance. The latest wave of technological change is especially broad, and it is coming fast.
• It is Fundamentally altering how goods, services and ideas are exchanged.And as rapidly declining costs make digital technologies even more affordable and accessible, they will continue to transform people’s lives and livelihoods.
• There is a danger that these gains will not reach the world’s poorest people. An estimated Three Billion people could still lack internet access by 2023,and many more will have little or no opportunity to reap the benefits of digital technologies. That means there can be no delay in addressing the problem of Digital Exclusion.

Digital technologies and the developing countries:

• Digital technologies have unlocked new routes to prosperity through agriculture, manufacturing, trade in services, the linking of informal and formal sectors, and domestic interconnectivity.Low- and middle-income countries around the world now have an opportunity to build new industries, deliver better services, and improve peoples’ lives.
• But digital technologies can also entrench existing forms of exclusion, disrupt livelihoods, and provide new tools for the powerful to abuse and exploit the weak.
• Developing Countries,in particular, are starting from a difficult position, because they are already grappling with the challenges of low human capital, ineffective institutions, and a difficult Business Environment.
• All developing countries and emerging economies should be able to capture at least some of the new opportunities on offer.

Measures to harness the Digital Revolution:

1. National governments should start planning for digital readiness in Four Areas: Infrastructure, Human Capital, Policy and regulation, and finance.These are the technical pillars future economy of the.
2. At the same time, regional-level policymakersneed to start building momentum on Policy Cooperation, which will be necessary for harnessing frontier technologies for the greater good.
3. Likewise, at the global level, Cross-Border Issuesassociated with frontier technologies will need to be Addressed Multilaterally. That means multilateral organizations themselves should be developing an antenna for identifying new technological and development challenges
4. To capture the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we also will need to strengthen public-private partnershipsand make our economies more efficient and flexible.
5. In addition to addressing the impact of technological disruption and ensuring fair taxation, the key will be to put people at the centre of the agenda.
6. Beyond furnishing workers with the right skills, we must create a digital world where all people have a voice,and where those who are not benefiting from change have the support they need.

Conclusion:

• Digital and frontier technologies have enormous potential to improve government administration and the delivery of public services.
• It is time for a new kind of conversation, one that involves governments, business leaders, innovators, civil-society organizations and citizens alike.