Presentation for Northeastern University Fall 2013 Senior Capstone *All references available

1. Pathway to Peace
through the
Digital Divide
Laura Mueller-Soppart
Capstone Fall 2013

2. Economic Stability & Peace
John Maynard Keynes, Economic Consequences of Peace, 1920

3. What is the Digital Divide?
gap between individuals, households, businesses and
geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with
regard both to their opportunities to access information
and communication technologies (ICTs) and to their use
of the Internet for a wide variety of activities

4. Why the Internet Matters
• 3.4% of GDP in top 70% global economy
stimulated by Internet activity
• 2.9% of global GDP
• $1.7 trillion economic contribution
• If the Internet were a sector it would outweigh
agriculture and utilities
• Internet contribution to GDP growth has been an
average 21% in mature countries over the past 5
years
• SMEs with high web index have experienced
2.1x growth over the last 3 years
• Less than 1/3 of surveyed SMEs have high
web index

5. Bridging the Digital Divide
Internet maturity correlates with a rising standard of living

6. Economic Impact of Electrification

7. Economic Impact of Electrification

8. Importance of Standardization
• Universal standards allow the electric grid to act
as one machine
• Increases economies of scale
• Keeps prices low
• Allows quicker global adoption
• International and national associations created
• Negotiate standards
• Share patents
• Learn best practices
• Engage with government agencies
• Standardization stops at regulating consumption

9. Energy Poverty ≠ Peace
Only ½ of primary students in Abu Hasheem, a small
south-eastern state in Sudan, received passing grades
on their exams in 2007. That number increased to 100
percent after the Sudan Multi Donor Fund-National
sponsored a project to provide solar power to the
community

10. Demand for Internet
In Sri Lanka, 76.6 percent of the population has
electricity access; yet, there are 81 active mobile
phones per 100 people

11. Demand for Internet

12. Risks of Unmet Demand
• Unmet economic potential
• 10% broadband penetration increase add
0.9 to 1.5 percentage points to per capita
GDP growth
• Education & Health gap continues to grow
• Online education
• Disease outbreak maps
• Information is powerful
• Amount of data produced in one day in 2013
is greater than all data stored before 2012
• Economic decisions are based on
information on a micro and macro level

13. Abundance  Peace

14. Literature Review
•
John Maynard Keynes, Economic
Consequences of Peace, 1920
•
Nicholas Carr, The Big Switch, 2008
•
Future Authors of the early 1900s
•
Vinton Cerf, Internet Freedom Declaration
•
OECD, Understanding the Digital Divide, 2001
•
McKinsey Global Institute, Why the Internet
Matters, 2011
•
Google, Digital Summit, 2013

15. Conclusions
• The digital divide is not sustainable because of the
importance of the Internet in modern society
• Electrification efforts are continuously unhinged, the
world operates on the assumption that energy will
always be available
• Information power will eclipse in importance, and all
deserve to assume that information will always be
available
• As witnesses with electricity, economies of scale and
standardization are key lowering pricing and expanding
networks
• Next steps are to develop policy recommendations that
also analyze the other components of peace and the
Internet