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OECD report discusses digital economies across the globe and outlines key challenges and opportunities, highlighting the need for better internet governance.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2015, a report which covers areas from broadband penetration and industry consolidation to network neutrality and cloud computing in OECD and partner countries.

The report emphasises the growing opportunities for employment in the ICT sector: more than 14 million people in OECD countries where employed in the ICT sector in 2013, which constitutes almost 3% of jobs in the 34-country bloc. ICT employment as understood in this report ranges from above 4% of total employment in Ireland and Korea to below 2% in Greece, Portugal and Mexico.

Secondly, the report finds that most countries have moved from a narrow focus on communications technology to a broader digital approach that integrates social and economic priorities. However no OECD country has a national strategy on online privacy protection or is funding research in this area, which tends to be viewed as a matter for law enforcement authorities to handle.

According to the report, these privacy issues and wider internet governance will be a growing priority for OECD states over the next years. Currently, 27 out of 34 OECD states have a national digital strategy, which mostly focus on telecoms infrastructure, broadband capacity and speed. Only few cover international issues such as internet governance.

For more information read the full OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2015.

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