Technology for

Inclusive and
Sustainable Growth
JESSEVIM R. GALEON, MIT
Dean, College of Information Technology
BUCAS GRANDE FOUNDATION COLLEGE
• Artificial intelligence, intelligent robots, e-
commerce, big data:

• These are some of the technological

advancements in the ongoing new industrial
revolution that are profoundly changing our
lives.
• Farmers in China's remote mountainous areas
can now see their specialty products reach
urban consumers in just one or two days, and
at prices several times higher than if they
were sold locally－all thanks to the booming
online trading platforms and express delivery
networks that have emerged in recent years.
• this as an example to highlight how
technology and innovation can accelerate
more inclusive economic growth,
featuring meaningful job creation and
sustainable development.
• By helping foster a rapid development of new
industries and business models, such as e-
commerce, mobile payments and the building of a
sharing economy, technology and innovation are
playing a key role in China's bid to upgrade and
transition its economy to more sustainable growth.
• Retrieved from
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2017-
06/28/content_29911597.htm Technology and
innovation help achieve inclusive growth
• But this is not yet happening in our
country.
• Our farmers are still depending on the
rain for them to start planting, save for
those irrigated rice fields.
• This is a challenge for the Philippines,
and that is only one sector.
• UNDP believes that sustained, inclusive and sustainable
growth is essential for achieving the 2030 Agenda.
• Growth can be inclusive and can eliminate poverty only if
all segments of society, including the marginalized, share
the benefits of development and participate in decision-
making.
• Retrieved from
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-
development/development-planning-and-inclusive-
sustainable-growth/inclusive-growth--addressing-inequality-
and-social-exclusion.html
• United Nations Development Program
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION AND
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
FOR A FAIR AND SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
• The world’s population peaked to 7.6 billion by mid-
2017, approximately adding a billion inhabitants
since 2005.
• The Population Division at the Department of
Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) United Nations
(UN), predicts that global population will increase by
1.1% each year reaching 11.2 billion by 2100 [1].
• Sixty per cent of the world’s people live in Asia and 17% in
Africa, while the remaining 23% live across Europe,
America and Oceania.
• China and India are the two most populous countries of the
world comprising 19% and 18% of global total, respectively.
• Based on UN/DESA projected growth of global population
until 2100, it is estimated that Asia and Africa will still
remain the two most populous regions of the world,
comprising about 83% of global population.
• Therefore, the majority population
growth is expected to take place in
developing and least developed
countries (LDCs) [2].
• Population is at the center of the UN 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development [1].
• Two of the seventeen sustainable
development goals (SDGs) aim at ending
hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition for all,
and promoting sustainable industrialization
(SDG 2 and 9).
• Agriculture will have to face multiple
challenges such as producing more food for a
growing population with a smaller rural labour
force, contribute to overall development in
agriculture-dependent developing countries,
adopt more efficient and sustainable
production methods and adapt to climate
change [3].
• Projections from UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) show that feeding 9.8
billion people in 2050 would require
raising overall food production by 70%
and in developing countries production
would need to almost double.
• Ending hunger and food insecurity,
therefore, will require continued and
focused efforts, especially in Asia and
Africa [4].
• However, there is general consensus that
agriculture alone will not be sufficient to
meet food-related SDGs.
• For economic growth to be sustainable in
the long-run, investments in agriculture
have to be accompanied by investments
and government spending in
infrastructure, institutions and ultimately
in the manufacturing and service sectors
[3].
• The question that now arises is: in which
areas do we need to invest for achieving
such an ambitious goal?
• The focus is on education and
information and communication
technologies (ICTs) for food processing
and distribution industry.
• First, education is one of the most powerful
instruments for reducing poverty and
inequality and lays a foundation for
sustainable economic growth [5];
nevertheless, many children in Least
Developing Countries (LDCs) still lack access
to quality education.
• This knowledge gap is increased by their limited or
no access to ICTs, essential in the developing world
because information is seen as one of the major
drivers of economic and social development and
ICT makes access to information on an
unprecedented scale.
• Despite the progress made, the digital divide still
remains between and within countries, in particular
between urban, rural and underserved areas [6,7].
• In the Philippines, the access to internet and
technology is controlled by 2 giant telecoms who
form some sort of duopoly (Ayala-led Globe
Telecoms and PLDT-Smart)
• In the latest (Q1-2017) State of the Internet report
from Akamai, Philippines still has one of the
slowest average Internet connection speeds in Asia
Pacific.
• From a global perspective, Philippines is
100th on the list with an average speed of 5.0
Megabits per second (Mbps) in the 1st quarter
of 2017.
• On a brighter note, there was a 54.5 percent
of improvement since 2014 when
the Philippines averaged only 2.50 Mbps.
• South Korea tops the list with an average speed of popping
28.6 Mbps, Hong Kong ranks second with 21.9 Mbps.
• It’s no surprise that the Chinese mega-billionaire Jack Ma
told an audience that included executives of PLDT and
Globe Telecoms, “Your internet service is not good here.”
• According to Manila Times columnist Rigoberto D. Tiglao,
for the Philippines to have a success story like that of Jack
Ma, it is imminent to improve the state of the internet
infrastructure.
• Recently, the DICT through the National Telecommunications
Commission named the 3rd TelCo player and that is Mislatel or
the Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company

• "For having passed the Preliminary and Detailed

Evaluation phases, the NMP-SC (New Major Player
Selection Committee) has determined that the first
submission package of Mindanao Islamic Telephone
Company, Inc. with Udenna Corporation, Chelsea
Logistics Holdings Corp. and China
Telecommunications Corporation (MISLATEL Group)
was complete and compliant," the confirmation order
read.
Read more at https://www.philstar.com/business/2018/11/19/1869966/ntc-confirms-
mislatel-new-third-telco-player#Ep6PD67Dq0xL8gYT.99
• Secondly, as recognized by World
Telecommunication Development Conference
(WTDC-17) convened in October 2017 in
Buenos Aires, Argentina, ICTs play a
significant role in pivotal areas such as
agriculture, education and health, particularly
in LDCs.
• However, innovative opportunities provided by
ICTs should be accompanied by ambitious
decision-making and measures aimed at
reducing poverty and inequalities [6].
• ICTs form the backbone of digital economy
and have enormous potential to fast forward
progress on the SDGs and improve people’s
lives in fundamental ways [8].
• In particular, to feed a growing population and
improve food security and traceability at the
same time, agri-food sector is increasingly
knowledge-intensive [9].
• As an example, ICTs can help delivering more
efficient and reliable data to comply with
international traceability standards [10].
• Many definitions such as e-agriculture [10], m-farming [11]
and smart farming [12] have been proposed for the use of
ICTs in agriculture in its broadest sense. Generally
speaking, ICTs for agri-food sector may include devices,
networks, services and applications.
• These can range from cutting edge sensors and
technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), cloud
computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data analytics,
to consolidated technologies such as radio, fixed and
mobile phone services and satellites.
• Recent data from International Telecommunication
Union (ITU), the UN specialized agency for ICTs, show
that ICT development is currently driven by the spread
of mobile-broadband services. Mobile broadband
penetration has indeed largely outpaced that of fixed
broadband, while average mobile-broadband prices
have halved since 2013.
• In particular, the steepest decrease occurred in LDCs,
where mobile-broadband prices fell from 32.4 to 14.1%
of gross national income (GNI) per capita [13].
• ITU data also show that 70% of the world’s youth (ages
15-24) are online.
• These factors have resulted in about half of the world’s
population getting online.
• Internet bandwidth grew worldwide by 32% in 2015–
2016 and Africa experienced the highest increase
during this period (72%).
• Even though developing countries are home to 83% of
the global population, they currently generate only 39%
of the world’s telecommunication revenues.
• Reported trends mean that demand for food,
education and ICTs would continue to grow.
• Therefore, public investment, private investment, as
well as public-private partnerships need to be
strengthened, especially in the developing world, for
the expansion of broadband infrastructure, ICT
services and applications in order to bridge the
digital divide and foster an inclusive and sustainable
economic growth.
• At the same time educational, training
and skill development policies need to be
enhanced by promoting technology and
knowledge transfer between developed
and developing countries as well as
among developing countries.
• Continuous monitoring of environmental parameters
is a fundamental preventative control and it can be
accomplished by wireless technologies for IoT.
(Internet of Things)
• A wide range of industrial IoT applications have
been developed in recent years by leveraging the
growing ubiquity of radio-frequency identification
(RFID), and wireless, mobile, and sensor devices
[18].
• However, IoT is a very complicated
heterogeneous network platform so future
efforts are needed to address research
challenges such as technology,
standardization, security and privacy.
• We believe that future investments in food safety
should be directed towards service-oriented
architecture (SOA)-based IoT solutions as the
principles of service-orientation are independent of
any vendor, product or communication technology.
• Such an approach could be affordable also for
emerging economies, by using existing
telecommunications infrastructures and thus
fostering their growth and updating.
• The PDP 2017-2022 is the first medium-term plan
to be anchored on the 0-10 point Socioeconomic
Agenda and is geared towards the Ambisyon Natin
2040 which articulates the Filipino people’s
collective vision of a MATATAG, MAGINHAWA, AT
PANATAG NA BUHAY PARA SA LAHAT. [video]
• It also takes into account the country’s international
commitments such as the 2030 Sustainable
Development Goals.
• All of which, points to inclusive and sustainable
growth in which technology plays a huge role.
• In the social media alone, entrepreneurs are given
tools to promote their business, in fact, I may be
annoyed with friends posting items for sale in my
newsfeeds yet we cannot deny the fact that
business is now powered by social media.
 References:
• http://sites.ieee.org/futuredirections/july-2018/the-role-of-education-and-information-
technology-for-a-fair-and-sustainable-development/ by:Marco Pellegrini and Massimo
Mozzon
• http://neda.gov.ph
• http://dict.gov.ph
• 1. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, “World
Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, Key Findings and Advance Tables, Working paper
ESA/P/WP/248,”
Internet: https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2017_KeyFindings.pdf [Nov.
23, 2017].
2. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Development Policy & Analysis
Division, “Least Developed Countries (LDCS),”
Internet: https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/least-developed-country-
category.html [Nov. 23, 2017].
3. United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization, “Outcome of the High-Level Expert
Forum on How to Feed the World in 2050,” Internet: http://www.fao.org/3/a-k6631e.pdf,
Nov. 2009 [Nov. 23, 2017].
• 4. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
Division for Sustainable Development, “Sustainable Development
Knowledge Platform,”
Internet: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org[Nov. 23, 2017].
5. B. Burns, A. Mingat and R. Rakotomalala, Achieving universal
primary education by 2015: a chance for every child. Washington
DC (USA): World Bank, 2003.
6. International Telecommunication Union, “Buenos Aires
Declaration of World Telecommunication Development Conference
2017 (WTDC-17),” Internet: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-
D/Conferences/WTDC/WTDC17/Pages/default.aspx [Nov. 23, 2017].
7. Close the Gap, “The role of ICT in the UN Sustainable
Development Goals,” Internet: http://close-the-gap.org/the-role-of-
ict-in-the-un-sustainable-development-goals [Nov. 23, 2017].
• 8. International Telecommunication Union, “ICTs for a Sustainable World
#ICT4SDG,” Internet: http://www.itu.int/ICT4SDG [Nov. 23, 2017].
9. International Telecommunication Union, “Goal 2. Hunger & food
security,” Internet: http://www.itu.int/en/sustainable-
world/Pages/goal2.aspx [Nov. 23, 2017].
10. United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization and International
Telecommunication Union, “E-Agriculture Strategy Guide. A summary,”
Internet: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6909e.pdf [Nov. 23, 2017].
11. International Telecommunication Union, “Innovating with Fatoumata:
How m-farming can feed the next 2.4 billion people,”
Internet: http://itu150.org/story/february [Nov. 23, 2017].
12. S. Wolfert, L. Ge, C. Verdouw and M.-J. Bogaardt, “Big Data in Smart
Farming – A review,” Agricultural Systems, vol. 153, pp. 69–80, 2017.
13. International Telecommunication Union, “ICT Facts and Figures 2017,”
Internet: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-
D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2017.pdf [Nov. 23, 2017].
• 14. United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, “Issues and trends in Education for
Sustainable Development,”
Internet: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0026/002
614/261445e.pdf[Jul. 6, 2018].
15. Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), “Eco
Schools,” Internet: http://www.ecoschools.global [Jul.
6, 2018].
16. United Nations, Global Compact Office and KPMG
International, “SDG Industry Matrix – Food, Beverage
and Consumer Goods,” Feb. 2016,
Internet: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issu
es_doc/development/SDGMatrix-
ConsumerGoods.pdf[Dec. 5, 2017].
17. U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Department of
Health and Human Services, “Food Safety