2013 Global Digital Economy - E-Health, E-Government and E-Education Essential to the Future

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Last updated: 4 Dec 2013 Update History

Report Status: Archived

Report Pages: 140

Analyst: Kylie Wansink

Publication Overview

This annual report is a valuable resource of information on the global e-health, e-education and e-government sectors. The report explores the transformation which e-health, e-government and e-education are all undergoing as a result of developments in ICT and smart communities. It discusses the role of Big Data, Cloud Computing, M2M and the Internet of Everything, supported by examples and analysis. It provides key global statistics and insightful regional overviews written by BuddeComm’s Senior Analysts for North America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

Subjects covered include:

  • The social and economic impact of the revolution;
  • Global e-health and m-health market;
  • Examples of e-health and m-health projects;
  • Global e-government market;
  • Global e-education and e-learning market;
  • M2M, Big Data, Cloud Computing and smart technologies to play an important role;
  • Regional overviews for North America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

Researchers:- Kylie Wansink, Paul Budde, Lucia Bibolini, Peter Evans, Paul Kwon, Henry Lancaster, Peter Lange.
Current publication date:- December 2013(6th Edition)

Executive Summary

Technology developments now shape the future for health, education and government

BuddeComm has been predicting for at least the last 20 years that major changes in technology will have massive social and economic implications. Unlike previous ‘revolutions’ that changed the world, this ‘digital revolution’ is unfolding within a short timeframe of 20-30 years. Compare this to the industrial revolution which developed over a few hundred years and the agricultural revolution that took a few thousand years - and it becomes easy to see how quickly we must adapt and accept this fast changing landscape.

The increased competition from the highly productive developing economies has created an interesting environment for the developed markets of old. These once stable economies are now forced to become even more productive in order to maintain their current economic and social lifestyle. In order to achieve this - there is no better way than by utilising the smart digital technologies on offer. In tandem with this approach - we must also build infrastructure that has the suitable capacity, reliability, and security to allow countries to create digital productivity and lifestyle improvements.

As we look towards 2014 there is no shying away from the fact that healthcare regimes all over the world are in crisis and fighting diverse challenges including rising healthcare costs, aging populations, disease and growing demand for “accountable” care. Healthcare is earmarked as a key sector that will profit from the gains we can make in utilising smart technology and digital advancements. Healthcare is one of the most inefficient sectors in the world and at the same time this is the largest industry on the planet. It is also a key reason many governments are experiencing budget problems, due to ever-increasing costs generated by this sector.

In response to these challenges; healthcare stakeholders are seeking innovative technologies that promise efficient and effective care delivery. New technology developments relating to cloud computing, Big Data analytics and Machine-to- Machine (M2M) are particularly important to this sector. It is time for an e-health revolution - and BuddeComm estimates that healthcare services could make up as much as 25% of all services available over the next generation broadband networks infrastructure.

Students, citizens and employees all around the world have been taking advantage of the advancements in e-education and e-learning for many years now. It must be acknowledged that this sector is shaping up as one of the leaders in the rapidly evolving digital society. Many universities are at the forefront of these developments as many of them depend to a large extent upon students that are linked remotely. Collaboration is another key feature, with universities now operating well-established networks with colleagues around the world. In addition, e-learning in a broader sense is forging ahead with major Internet Media companies taking a key interest. Massive Online Open Courses (MooCs) are a key area for future developments and it will also be worth observing how the new Google Helpouts fares during 2014.

For over a decade now the internet and related Web 2.0 applications have been widely used by both residential consumers and businesses to improve everyday communications, processes and information flow both with and within government organizations. Many e-government services on offer around the world already provide citizens with relatively sophisticated services and the establishment of a fibre-based broadband network may see governments improve and broaden the range of web services even further. In 2014 the use of Big Data will be a key focus for the sector, along with M2M and mobile technology developments.

BuddeComm’s new report, Global Digital Economy - E-Health, E-Government and E-Education Essential to the Future is a valuable resource of information on these vital services. The report explores the transformation which e-health, e-government and e-education are all undergoing as a result of developments in ICT and smart communities. It discusses the role of Big Data, Cloud Computing, M2M and the Internet of Everything, supported by examples and analysis. It provides key global statistics and insightful regional overviews written by BuddeComm’s Senior Analysts for North America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

Examples of key insights:

  • Governments are approaching the end of their ability to continue funding such an inefficient healthcare system, especially with constantly rising costs. E-health is seen as perhaps the single most important tool for governments to address the issues facing this sector - but it requires extraordinary leadership to guide the industry in the right direction.
  • For close to 20 years we have seen a large number of e-health pilots and projects around the world. Most of these pilots in themselves have very successful but because of the lack of scalability and the absence of government e-health policies, none of the pilots anywhere around the world have seen large-scale implementation.
  • All of the main carriers have created secure data platforms as they can see the market potential for service revenues from m-health devices.
  • Just as business has embraced the concept of Big Data; Government organisations are also coming to the same realisation that it needs alternate solutions to manage and search the overwhelming amount of information they hold, including both digital (documents, emails, photos) and paper (forms, reports etc) formats.
  • An interesting case study is Australia - where in parallel to the rollout of the national broadband network (NBN), the Australian Government also has its National Digital Economy Strategy. Based on a trans-sector model, the NBN will become the shared infrastructure for a range of sectors including e-health, e-education and e-government.
  • Africa's overall development benefits from e-learning, e-health and e-government initiatives.
  • With the high levels of mobile penetration present in the region, m-education and m-health are important options for all LAC countries.
  • Research and Education Networks (RENs) have been deployed by most countries across the Middle East as many institutions recognise the benefits of enhanced connectivity for research and education activities.
  • All across Asia there are huge steps being taken in the areas of e-health, e-government and e-education. In this report we pay particular attention to the e-government sector as it is in this area that we find Asia leading the world, with South Korea being the stand-out market in both the region and globally.
  • As with many other westernised countries, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and tobacco-related disorders account for 80% of early deaths in New Zealand. The challenges can be addressed with the help of ICT, and good quality infrastructure is essential to successfully deliver the ICT products that are going to support the changes in healthcare, education and environmental services.
  • Canada is among the leading nations globally in adopting e-health solutions and technologies, made possible by the country’s cross-platform IP-based infrastructure.
  • In common with e-Government, the European Commission’s (EC) Digital Agenda has focussed on the financial and operational benefits of e-Health initiatives.
  • In recent years many North American educational institutions have been aggressively entering into the online education sector.

Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year

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