OECD is a partnership between industrial countries to build strong economies in its member-countries, improve efficiency, hone market systems, expand free trade and contribute to development in developing as well as industrialised countries.

ICT focus:

The OECD believes that the digital divide has an increasing economic and social impact. It wishes to undertake activities to improve understanding of how ICT contributes to sustainable growth and social well-being and additionally their role in the shift toward knowledge-based societies.

Programme Activities:

Committee for Information, Competition and Communications Policy

This department of the OECD addresses the issues of the digital economy. Activities include contributing to the development of policies to ensure the equal share of the benefits that ICTs create. The Committee also studies the impact of ICT in the areas of: consumer policy; information economics; information security and privacy, and telecommunications and Internet policy.

Website: http://http://www.oecd.org/oecd/pages/home/displaygeneral/

E-Learning: The Partnership Challenge

Published in June 2001, this report investigated how ICT could transform education. Among the most important conclusions made was the realisation that technology does not equal education success, focus is now being placed on content and the people handling the technology.

Website: http://www.electrode.gfi.fr/cgi-bin/OECDBookshop.Storefront/EN/product/96200106ipi

Other Activities include:

• A study of ICT and economic growth in OCT 2001. Conclusions were made that although countries are in different situations they all benefit at an accelerating rate.
  Website: http://www.olis.oecd.org/2001
  
• The 2001 launch of an e-government project that explores how Governments can best use ICTs to embed good governance principles and achieve public policy goals.

• A study of ICT and education policies that aims to find whether ICT will lay the foundations for lifelong learning for all or just a lucky few.

• An information initiative report, ‰Û÷Understanding the Digital Divide‰Ûª, to publicise the research of the OECD‰Ûªs Directorate of Science, Technology and Industy which is aimed at measuring the digital divide between industrial and developing countries.
  Website: http://www.oecd.org/dsti/sti/prid/Digital_Divide.pdf
  
• The CCNM Conference on Electronic Commerce share policy experience and analysis between different countries and reaches out to non-members of the OECD to transfer good practice.[endlist]
  
• The Emerging Market Economy Forum provides an opportunity for assessing efforts to achieve and inclusive global information society, and for overcoming constraints affecting investment, regulatory reform, human resources and policy principles.
  

Website: http://www.oecd.org