Emerging technologies such as AI, 5G, DLT, and quantum are increasingly being used by financial services firms and are forming clusters that are driving innovation throughout the sector. These advances can offer new services and savings to both customers and financial institutions.

The Global Innovation Index 2020 provides detailed metrics about the innovation performance of 131 countries and economies around the world. Its 80 indicators explore a broad vision of innovation, including political environment, education, infrastructure and business sophistication.

Recent technological advancements have ushered in a new era of the “internet of bodies” (IoB), with an unprecedented number of connected devices and sensors being affixed to or even implanted and ingested into the human body. The IoB generates tremendous amounts of biometric and human behavioral data.

The White Paper reflects on innovations being developed on the continent to support effective communication both by governments and the private sector. Public sensitisation has been primarily driven by mobile applications who serve the dual function of contact tracing and sensitisation.

Technology brings many positive innovations and opportunities but unless it is developed with security in mind, it presents more risks and potential disruption than solutions. This report provides a framework to develop technology in a secure manner, focusing on essential principles such as privacy-by-design and security-by-design.

Digital connectivity has increased rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa. While the global digital divide is still large, the gap with the rest of the world is narrowing fast. Internet penetration in the region has increased tenfold since the early 2000s, compared with a threefold increase in the rest of the world.

Powered by data flows, digitalization has become crucial for the seamless functioning of economies and societies. Countries, however, can have concerns that once data moves abroad it will not be treated the same as at home. Jurisdictions do not trust each other to act appropriately on data governance.

The World Economic Forum partnered with the Bahrain Economic Development Board and a Steering Committee-led project community of organizations from around the world to co-design the Roadmap for Cross-Border Data Flows, with the aim of identifying best-practice policies that both promote innovation in data-intensive technologies and enable data c

Digital financial services, powered by fintech, have the potential to lower costs by maximizing economies of scale, to increase the speed, security and transparency of transactions and to allow for more tailored financial services that serve the poor.