A Just Digital Transformation for the Global South: The Role of Digital Diplomacy in Emerging Technologies and Public Data Ecosystems

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and its emerging technologies have proven to be largely promising to transform, in a digital manner, the public sector, while bringing socioeconomic development. E-governance can redefine democracy and increase efficiency in the public sector, whilst the development of a data economy powered by AI can boost job creation and economic growth. These developments, nonetheless, come with inherent challenges, which have been particularly observed in the Global South. More precisely, deficiencies in broadband and ICT infrastructure and investments, the excessive need for electricity to power the 4IR, but also the lack of skilled labor and transformational mindset amongst the private sector and policymakers in countries of the Global South, such as in Sub-Saharan Africa, are only expected to increase inequalities social injustice, widening the North-South gap.

A promising solution that has emerged includes the utilization of a novel intelligence paradigm in combination with public data ecosystems (PDEs). PDEs constitute adaptive and dynamic ecosystems that encourage active interactions between all stakeholders for their common interest, namely the public good. Harnessing the power of the novel intelligence paradigm, based on citizen science and collective utilization of emerging 4IR technologies, inclusive and sustainable development that overcomes the foregoing challenges can be achieved. International aid cooperations and agencies, through the already practiced digital diplomacy, can support a just digital transformation.

Hence, this research performs a systematic literature review (SLR) of the uses of 4IR technologies in PDEs and examines policies and best practices that have been used to deal with the aforementioned challenges. The second step involves conversion of the indicated policies and best practices into a policy roadmap for international aid cooperation on a North-South level.