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government employees to work efficiently and productively when
they’re out in the field. With widespread PC usage and a ubiquitous
broadband infrastructure, citizens in even the remotest areas can
access and participate in community portals and e-Government
services. Businesses can apply online for permits and licences,
helping to cut through paperwork and enhance economic vitality.
Transformations in these areas – education, healthcare and
government – are critical to a nation’s success and to its compet-
itiveness in the information age.
Critical to success: policy and partnerships
From companies and governments that have been on the fore-
front of efforts to promote digital inclusion, we know that the
fastest progress occurs when governments and businesses collab-
orate on innovative ICT policies and solutions.
Enlightened government policies are crucial. Governments
that are serious about digital inclusion and economic progress
have policies in place that encourage the free flow of informa-
tion, people and commerce. They’re creating policies that
promote investment and open the gates of opportunity. They’re
concentrating on making it easy for indigenous businesses to
develop and mature, and making the country attractive to exter-
nal businesses to bring manufacturing, services and jobs.
These governments are allowing market forces to prevail. They
are creating a national climate that fosters innovation and
economic competitiveness – to better expand the available wealth
and thrive in a fast-changing, interconnected digital world.
Numerous governments plan to implement digital inclusion
programmes that make computing and connectivity accessible
and affordable for families, businesses and governments. For
example, the Jordanian Ministry of ICT is working together with
the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
and Jordan Telecom to bring WiMax connectivity to Jordan’s
eVillage project. UNIFEM and Intel are linking schools-based
learning resource centres to create a wireless community in two
remote rural communities. This multi-layered programme also
includes establishing after-school resource centres and activities,
as well as economic empowerment components.
In Cairo, Intel has opened a Platform Definition Centre to
define and develop computing platforms that meet the needs and
preferences of customers in Egypt and other Middle East and
African countries. Intel has also worked with Egypt’s Ministry of
Education and Ministry of Communications and Information
Technology to support the country’s digital inclusion strategies.
Businesses have much to contribute to the work of digital inclu-
sion. The global ICT industry has invested extensively in worldwide
efforts to support digital access and use ICT to transform health-
care, government, education and other critical sectors. For example,
in Malaysia, the global ICT industry worked with the Government
to increase its competitiveness through an ‘IT For All’ campaign
aimed at its citizens and its high population of small and medium
enterprises. The programme included ICT training, events, and
restricted zero per cent loans which help to overcome access to
financial resources, one of the biggest hurdles for growth.
Local entrepreneurs are also finding resourceful ways to use tech-
nology to improve the quality of life for their countrymen as well as
to create economic opportunity for themselves. In India, currently,
most rural and semi-rural Indians must leave their villages and travel
considerable distances to larger regional cities for relatively basic
services such as information on market prices for crops, marriage
licences, land records, domicile certificates, driving licences and the
like. Drishtee, a New Delhi-based company, is now operating in
India to bring services to rural areas through a series of information
kiosks located in rural villages and towns. Each kiosk is owned and
operated by an entrepreneur and acts as a proxy government exten-
sion office as well as offering some private services. The
consolidation of these requests at the local level makes tasks much
easier on citizens while creating revenue for local businesses.
Transformation is possible
Change is hard. Failure is even harder. Every nation has a chance
to be a part of information-driven competition – it simply needs
to embrace information-age competition. For governments, it is
critical that they foster the right climate for innovation and invest
in research, education, and technology infrastructure. Businesses
at all levels, large, medium and small, can play a leadership role
by forming partnerships to promote digital inclusion and tech-
nology in healthcare, education and small business.
These are the building blocks of a nation that values ideas and
people – the things that will define a growing, healthy society
for the next century. Intel is proud to be a part of this transfor-
mation and to help nations harness the power of technology for
growth and opportunity.
Dr Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel Corporation with Dr Tarek Kamel,
Minister for Communications and IT, Arab Republic of Egypt in March this
year with staff and students of Umm Al Abtal school who are participating
in the Intel® Model School Programme
Pictured here is a PC reference that is designed to operate off a car battery
for remote areas such as the remote villages of India where extreme
conditions including heat, dust and intermittent power supply would limit
the use of a more traditional design