Readers of this blog will know that a favourite theme of mine is looking at the digital economy, which is now becoming the economy as technology permeates every aspect of our lives today. I touched on the subject of the Internet being friend or foe on 19 June last year and this very much remains the case as technological advances - which are developing with increasing speed - can be used for either good or evil. My view is that the more we can understand the technological revolution underway, the better placed we will be in the UK to be competitive in the global system.
Back when I co-founded the European Internet Foundation (EIF) as a cross party initiative in 2000 with the aim of making fellow MEPs (and myself…) more aware of the coming technological revolution, I do not think that any of us could have predicted the pace with which technology would change our lives - Facebook, MySpace and YouTube have only been with us for the last five years. We cannot predict exactly what new products will emerge from technological companies but its a safe bet that we can expect as many or more technological advances in the following ten years as we have experienced in the last ten. Do policy-makers have any idea what these changes might mean in practice?
Part of the exercise of trying to assess long-term trends in this field was completed with the EIF’s ‘Digital World in 2025’ report, published in late September last year (see blogs of 2 Oct and 22 Jan). In its introduction, the report points out “…many millions of 10-year-olds in Europe and around the world are already “digital natives” – born and raised in a world of digital communications. Behind them will come wave upon wave of youngsters, particularly in today’s young emerging societies and economies, with increasing numbers growing up with ever-more powerful digital tools.”
We recently had two meetings in the EIF based on this document with ICANN, the leaders of the global coordinating authority for domain names. One of the key points made was that only 6% of the 200 million domain names registered today are still available under the old system of IPv4. This is why a transition is underway to the new IPv6 system with trillions of names available. How can we be ready for this new world in the Thames Valley, Britain and the rest of Europe?
Two major factors which will be of real importance to us will be skills and education in IT, and infrastructure. The EIF’s report says “…a generation of school teachers with self-taught e-skills, often also ill-equipped, will not prove adequate to prepare youngsters for the digital economy of 2025. The key to success…is to redesign education itself around participative, digitally-enabled collaboration within and beyond the individual educational institution.”
Relating to infrastructure, anyone living in the Oxfordshire region will know how difficult it is to get even basic access to the mobile Internet. This is why I initiated a campaign to highlight this issue earlier this year and am working with the Oxfordshire Economic Partnership to organise the county’s first so-called ‘Digital Summit’ in late September. This event will bring some leading politicians, businessmen and academics together to see what changes are necessary for the region to remain competitive in a digital world.
The internet is not going to go away - indeed for most of us it is in the palm of our hands. But we need to be prepared to take full advantage of its huge potential or else risk being left behind by younger, more dynamic nations which adapt quicker to the changes underway. One of the key conclusions of an excellent Microsoft presentation on the international challenge (available here) is that “…lack of ICT skills will be the bottleneck that prevents the EU from being competitive in the global economy”.
For a really good summary of the views of ICANN, here is Rod Beckstrom, CEO ICANN, talking to the EIF on Tuesday 22 June:
