Luohan Academy Unveils Report on Digital Technology and Inclusive Growth at World Economic Forum
January 24 2019 - 9:08AM
Business Wire
Report spotlights key examples from China of
how digital technology can drive inclusive growth
Luohan Academy – an open research institute initiated by Alibaba
Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA) – today released its first
report examining the oft-debated relationship between digital
technology and economic growth at the 2019 World Economic Forum in
Davos. The report demonstrates how digital technology can drive
inclusive growth in ways previous technology revolutions have not,
especially when policies and public-private sector cooperation are
supportive.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190124005445/en/
From left to right: Kristalina Georgieva,
Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank; H.M. Queen Máxima of the
Netherlands; Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of Alibaba; Dame Minouche
Shafik, Director, London School of Economics; Chen Long, Director,
Luohan Academy (Photo: Business Wire)
The report was launched at an event co-hosted with the World
Bank, and featured speeches and discussions with high-profile
experts, including Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands and
the UN Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance
for Development (UNSGSA); Kristalina Georgieva, CEO of the World
Bank; Michael Spence, Professor of Economics at New York University
and Nobel Prize Winner; Jack Ma, Alibaba Group Executive Chairman;
and Chen Long, Director of Luohan Academy. More than 120 delegates
from the World Economic Forum attended the launch event, including
government officials, chief executives, academics, and heads of
NGOs, international organizations and development agencies.
The report “Digital Technology and Inclusive Growth” details why
the benefits of the current digital revolution can be more evenly
distributed than they were in previous technological revolutions.
At the macro level, widespread adoption and application of digital
technology is no longer dependent on level of income and economic
development. At the micro level, digital technology is making it
easier for consumers to start businesses, reach consumers, and
access financing. Using China as a case study, the report
illustrates how digital technologies can provide more access to
economic opportunity in ways not possible previously.
“Experience in China and other emerging markets shows the
tremendous potential of a new growth path, one that makes
development more inclusive and sustainable,” said Chen Long,
Director of Luohan Academy. “With public-private joint efforts and
the right policies, the digital age presents new opportunities for
emerging markets that did not exist before.”
This report identifies where digital technologies have made a
material difference for inclusive growth in China, and offers some
insights on how to apply the lessons learned in China to other
markets. Some key findings include:
- Lowering the skill threshold: In
order to promote digital penetration, lowering the skill threshold
needed to use technology is as important as raising the level of
technological expertise. For example, in rural Taobao villages in
China, e-tailer households that participate in e-commerce earn more
than double the income of non-e-tailer households at every
education level because the skills can be learned on the job; no
formal education required.
- Leveraging digital platforms:
Digital platforms represent a new form of exchange and coordination
to create an ecosystem for inclusive growth. It is a free-spinning
wheel that connects numerous consumers and producers, and
facilities interactions with very low cost, high efficiency, and
reliability.
- Forming effective public-private
partnerships: It is more important than ever for the public
sector to create a benign macro environment for the private sector
to grow and make necessary investments for the population to access
digital technology.
- Managing unanticipated effects:
In the digital age, there have been concerns about real and complex
issues such as technological unemployment, abuse of private
information, lagging competition policy, and increased inequality.
The first step to address these challenges is to separate facts
from speculation and anxiety. The evidence in China shows that the
benefits of new market access and opportunities are more pronounced
in less developed countries.
“This report on digitally enabled growth patterns in China is
very interesting. The data shows that the mobile internet,
e-commerce, mobile payments and internet-based financial services
together have accelerated overall growth and produced startlingly
inclusive growth patterns in multiple dimensions. The report
documents this, and explains why these effects occur,” said Michael
Spence, 2001 Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics and professor at New
York University. “In conjunction with gained experience in other
developing countries, there is a very convincing case that
digitally-enabled, platform-based ecosystems are a new and powerful
growth engine.”
Launched in June 2018 in Hangzhou, the Luohan Academy is focused
on addressing universal challenges that arise from the rapid
development of digital technologies. With 16 Nobel Prize laureates
and prominent academics as committee members, the institute aims at
bringing together the top scholars in the world to study the most
pressing issues of the digital economy and advance the research of
technology and its impact on humanity.
About Luohan Academy
Luohan Academy, an independent think tank and open research
institute, was initiated by Alibaba Group on 26th June, 2018 in
Hangzhou, China. It was launched by Jack Ma, Alibaba's founder and
Executive Chairman, and 16 academic committee members. Luohan
Academy intends to bring together the best thinkers in the world
with first-hand practical insights into the digital economy in
order to advance the research frontiers of digital technology and
its impact on humanity. Its mission is two-fold: to understand how
digital technology can help achieve common good; and to build a
broad research community for systematic and in-depth learning,
leading to new paradigms for solving the most pressing issues in
digital society.
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