Information technology innovations for development

Abstract

Information Technology Innovations forDevelopment: Facilitating Private Enterprise With Institutional Reform Information Technology (IT) for development research thus far has considered the application of information and communication technologies to improve the lives of people with low incomes who have limited access to services such as healthcare, education and sanitation. While this definition still remains useful, a broader range of contributions have been made to help us understand how IT supports core processes or does IT contribute to the creation of new processes for healthcare provision, business development or even industries such as tourism? Under what conditions can IT implementations deter efforts to apply IT for economic, social or even human development? According to theorists, economic development is fueled by technical innovations that increase the efficiency with which entrepreneurship takes place (Schumpeter 2002, Ohara 1994). Innovations in IT for development appear to be most apparent in the new ways in which IT can be used to support small businesses. In particular, the use of IT by entrepreneurs appears to follow disruptive innovation processes proposed by Christensen (2000) when applied to micro-enterprises (Wolcott et al., 2007). This raises further questions of what conditions need to be created to enable IT implementations to bring about measurable improvements in people’s lives? The articles in this issue consider the different ways in which IT is applied, the obstacles that prevent countries from taking advantage of these opportunities and what can be done to assist in IT for developments efforts. Innovations to enable IT for development entail 1) new ways of applying IT, 2) new products to support unique ways of life, 3) new methods to assess development outcomes, and 4) new skill sets and knowledge for businesses and governments to use. These innovations in IT can potentially increase the opportunities available to achieve development outcomes. Building the capacity of a country to use IT for development remains a unique challenge because of the multiple factors associated with that country. The first article is by Mariyam Adam and Cathy Urquhart and is entitled “IT Capacity Building in Developing Countries: A Model of the Maldivian Tourism Sector.” This article suggests that lack of IT skills and human capital are a significant obstacle to the successful implementation of IT projects in developing countries. The model discussed in this article draws on theories of knowledge management, and social and human capital, and has been developed for research in the tourism sector in the Maldives. The model is grounded in some preliminary findings from their study of the Maldivian tourism sector. The authors draw some initial conclusions about the role of the national context, social capital, knowledge sharing and geographical isolation when considering IT capacity building for that sector. The model also makes a wider contribution in focusing on an under-researched issue, IT capacity building in developing countries, and by bringing some useful theoretical perspectives to bear on the problem.