Another Way of Development Through ICT: Possibility and Vulnerability

Since the 1990s, the importance of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-enabled services/digitally deliverable services has steadily increased along with economic globalization. Until now, the driving force of the world economy has been world trade, mainly in goods. The digital economy has now arrived, with finance, telecommunications, software development, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), and other service transactions becoming increasingly important, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data becoming the greatest source of competitiveness. On the one hand, this economy has opened the way for some emerging and developing economies to develop through ICT and computer-based digital-based services trade, bringing great expectations to some emerging and developing economies. On the other hand, it has created increasingly difficult catch-up barriers for many developing countries. This chapter identifies the ICT-based services trade that has been the focus of much attention at the turn of the century, and refers to some of the key issues related to the development of emerging and developing economies that have been the subject of much discussion. At the same time, it examines the possibilities and challenges for the development of emerging and developing economies opened up by the development of ICTs.