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In sub-Saharan Africa, costly access to technology, a low skills base and unfavourable business conditions are among the chief obstacles.

Can Digitization Kick-Start Growth?
For those who lag behind, the incentives for digitization remain strong. An analysis by Booz & Company has found that ICT could help lift millions out of poverty.

The rise of the South is radically reshaping the world of the 21st century, with developing nations driving economic growth, lifting hundreds of millions of people from poverty, and propelling billions more into a new global middle class, says the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) 2013 Human Development Report.

The latest figures and rankings released in the 2013 HDR include life expectancy, education and income. Norway once again comes out top, with Burkina Faso, Chad, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Niger propping up the bottom. But the report also includes a table on trends in the HDI over the past three decades – which makes more favourable reading for poorer African nations.

This report explores the important aspects of data handling and storage in the context of future research networks and the associated services. The study encompasses networking requirements, storage, middleware, data policies, and data origin, each of which is considered from the standpoint of five disciplines: Genomics, High Energy Physics, Digital Cultural Heritage, Radio Astronomy, and Distributed Music Performance.

The NREN Futures study is a sub-study of the ASPIRE project and was set up to look at the current state of NRENs in Europe. From this, recommendations can be made as to how the NRENs should develop to take advantage of developments in technology and business practice in the next five to ten years.

The study used a variety of methods: questionnaires, surveys, interviews and the expertise of the panel members, to collect and analyse the current status, and then to predict how the NREN environment is likely to change in the future. A remarkably consistent view of future developments emerged from the different parts of the study and a range of recommendations and findings are detailed in the study. Because the state of development of the NRENs differs widely, the list of recommendations will be applicable to individual NRENs in different ways and should be adapted and adopted by the NRENs, as they deem appropriate.

The recommendations are:
›› The European Research and Education (R&E) Networking Community (NRENs, DANTE, TERENA, and user stakeholders) need an efficient, strategic management body to act as a single point of contact, capable of responding quickly and with authority.