Despite the great progress in deepening regional connectivity through information and communication technologies, Asia and the Pacific is still the most digitally divided region in the world, with less than eight per cent of the population connected to affordable and reliable high-speed Internet. As a result, millions of people are shut out from transformative digital opportunities in education, health and financial services. Women and girls, in particular, have lower levels of access to broadband Internet and other knowledge-enhancing technologies. The Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway initiative aims to increase the availability and affordability of broadband Internet for all people across Asia and the Pacific.
Infrastructure Corridors Simulator This Simulation tool is aimed to determine the most appropriate model for development of new Integrated Infrastructure Corridors. The knowledge product includes in-depth research and methodology on identifying and developing promising infrastructure corridors in the view of co-deployment of the ICT-Energy- Transport infrastructures and multi-stakeholder partnerships.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has confirmed the close link between health and disaster risk reduction.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for digital connectivity and transformation to mitigate the impact of economic slowdown, sustain well-being, and speed up e-resilience readiness, and build back better. Social distancing has generated higher demand for fast and reliable broadband connectivity to support the growing information flows.
Rural areas across much of Asia are undergoing profound economic, social and demographic changes. Not only goods and people, but ideas, values, and cultural practices, are moving, both physically and virtually, across multi-layered transport networks.
