Digital technologies are a game-changer and are critical to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, responding to and overcoming the COVID-19 crisis. However, the pandemic has compounded the implications of the growing digital divide and has exacerbated existing inequalities between the developing and the developed world. It has demonstrated and reinforced our reliance on digital technology in almost every facet of our daily lives, including remote education, working and health services, as well as for e-commerce and market access. The crisis has compounded and shed greater light on the need to promote and safeguard digital technologies to bridge the technology gap and help all people.
Following the Abu Dhabi Declaration of November 2019, UNIDO introduced a new approach to make the Fourth Industrial Revolution work for all, resting on four pillars: innovation, digital infrastructure, digital skills, and digital cooperation and partnerships. UNIDO is driving towards mainstreaming a digital, gender-responsive, sustainable transformation and the upscaling of digital capabilities in developing countries.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a leap in the digitalization of learning, working and connecting with others, but it has also exposed a serious digital divide that reinforces social and economic disparities.