ICTs and the possibilities for leapfrogging by developing countries

The last half of the twentieth century was marked by steady advance in the ubiquity of information and communication technologies (ICTs) throughout the industrialized world. The emergence of a significant “digital divide” between industrialized and developing countries is reproducing existing patterns of inequality with regard to these new technologies (Castells, 1996). During this same period, however, substantial achievements in the few countries which succeeded in narrowing the economic divide separating them from the industrialized world often involved the export-oriented production of ICTs (Kim, 1997; Hobday, 1995b; Amsden, 1989) or, less commonly, their effective use in improving productivity or creating new markets. The continuing rapid decline in the prices of these technologies and the accompaniment of these price reductions with a growing range of applications suggest that they offer further opportunities for economic growth. In particular, ICTs are unique in a number of ways compared with the leading industries of the past that were responsible for industrial growth and development, such as steel, chemicals, and machinery. In many applications, and in some types of production, the conditions of entry for using and, in some cases, for producing ICTs do not require massive investment in fixed plant capacity or infrastructure or in the accumulation of experience. Moreover, ICT applications often appear to be complementary to efforts to improve the quality, speed and flexibility of production, offering a compensating advantage against existing shortcomings in production capacities (Lal, 2000). Because virtually all of the components and many of the systems embodying these technologies are internationally available from highly competitive