Digital Platforms

Digital platforms provide a wide range of services in new and innovative ways – they must be sustainable over the long term and should work to reduce inequalities and improve access for everyone.
Digital technology is transforming not only the industrialized world but rapidly affecting the developing world as well. The greatly reduced cost of internet-capable devices such as smart phones are making new business models and services in the developing world possible on a large scale. Based on these developments, digital platforms provide a wide range of services in new and innovative ways. Patterned after successful digital platforms in the consumer world (e.g. Facebook, ebay, etc.) firms have created many new platforms for industry. Now different organizations have also developed digital platforms for education, health care, agriculture, and other fields. Such models and services, however, must also be sustainable over the long term and should work to reduce inequalities and improve access for users around the world.