At the last B20 Summit (the business arm of the G20 Summit) in Bali, I had the privilege of leading a panel to discuss growth, innovation, and inclusivity with CEOs and other leaders from around the world. I was pleased to see the leaders I met didn’t share the gloomy outlook that’s prevalent in the media. Instead, they were focused on growth opportunities, partnerships and alliances, sustainability, and the role of technology in driving reinvention.
The session I led took up the topic of the digital divide and its effect on growth. The panel agreed that companies and governments must recognize the unique opportunity before us to ensure future growth by giving more people access to the internet.
Currently, 2.7 billion people around the world remain disconnected from the internet, despite the uptake in connectivity during the pandemic. According to research from the UN, a 10% increase in the penetration of mobile broadband service increases GDP by 1.5%. Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) technology alone is projected to deliver double-digit GDP growth globally–but A.I.’s value will be limited if the digital divide isn’t narrowed.
Speed up in the slowdown
Even though the pandemic drove hundreds of millions of people online, the gap between internet usage in the most and least developed economies has shrunk by only three percentage points between 2017 and 2021.
With a recession potentially looming, we must resist the natural inclination to pull back–and instead invest in closing the digital divide.
Focus on infrastructure investment and public-private partnerships
The importance of closing the digital divide isn’t a new idea. Economist Paul Romer was a Nobel Prize co-winner for his 1990 research on “endogenous growth,” which demonstrated how the key forces affecting technological change–research funding, education, and tax policy–directly influence economic growth.
We can see this happening in practice by looking at the lived experience of business leaders in developing economies, including those that were shared by my guests at the B20 panel. Their stories of public-private partnerships and infrastructure investment show what’s possible everywhere, not just in their countries.
Christian Gebara, CEO of Telefônica Brasil (among the B20 leaders developing recommendations on this topic) explained that his company’s expansion of 5G and fiber networks has brought diversity, innovation and creativity to Brazil’s workforce. In 2020, Telefônica partnered with other companies to create FiBrasil, a neutral fiber infrastructure expected to bring service to 5.5 million Brazilian homes and businesses by 2024. Telefônica recently deployed more than 1,500 5G antennas in all 27 of Brazil’s state capitals.
Deep Kapuria, Chairman of The Hi-Tech Gears, emphasized the importance of investment in technology and shared his perspective that “it’s only by experimenting and getting creative, and not being afraid of failure, that we take giant leaps of innovation forward.”
My other B20 panel guests also described partnerships that had an immediate impact. Alvin Sariaatmadja, President Director of Emtek, noted that Indonesia’s encouragement of domestic investments in the nickel sector (a critical material for EVs) led to immense value and job creation, skills transfer from developed nations, and ultimately economic growth.
Anthony Tan, the Group CEO and cofounder of Grab, shared that Grab partnered with the Vietnamese government, using its tech platform and delivery network to help farmers sell their produce when supply chains were crippled by the pandemic.
Evolve from talent consumer to talent creator
Many CEOs understand that investing in technology is a path to growth. In fact, Accenture’s latest C-suite survey found that 88% of CEOs plan to increase tech spending. What’s not as well understood is how closing the digital divide is similarly important.
Put simply, technology doesn’t evolve, create efficiencies, or drive innovation without people and human ingenuity. When people from underserved and underrepresented backgrounds cannot access technology and education for reskilling, we only exacerbate the digital and economic divide.
Fourteen of the G20 nations stand to miss out on $11.5 trillion in GDP growth due to the global technology skills gap. Therefore, companies should transition from being talent consumers to talent creators. It’s the clear path to sustained, long-term innovation and equitable global growth.
For example, Accenture research suggests that if we doubled the pace at which women become fluent users of digital technologies, it could reduce the gender pay gap by 21% in lower-income countries and dramatically shorten the timeline to gender equality.
Be bold in uncertain times
It’s possible that a global recession may impact us all in 2023–but it’s certain that closing the digital divide would reduce inequalities and drive economic growth.
As much as 60% of the global GDP now relies on digital communication technologies–and yet a third of the global population remains disconnected from the internet. Businesses and governments face a unique situation in which complex problems can be solved with a simple solution: The more people can be connected to each other through technology, the more we’ll all learn, grow and prosper.
CEOs and government officials have the power to drive this type of change–and should set their sights on closing the digital divide to deliver future growth.
Jack Azagury is the group chief executive of Accenture Strategy & Consulting
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
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