Digitalizing Emerging Economies: Surpassing Developed Nations or the Arrival of a Surveillance Society?

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Asei Ito
Other : Associate Professor, Social Science Research Centers and Institutes, The University of Tokyo
Keio University alumni

Asei Ito
Other : Associate Professor, Social Science Research Centers and Institutes, The University of Tokyo
Keio University alumni

2021/01/16

In terms of the utilization of digital technology, isn't overseas more advanced than Japan? I have felt this way on the streets of India, in restaurants in China, and in factories in Southeast Asia. This book is a sketch of that intuition.

If you go to a bookstore, there are piles of books on the theme of Digital Transformation (DX), which refers to social change through digital technology. However, in most cases, the setting is Japan or developed countries, led by the United States.

However, in the 2010s, the mobile internet spread to emerging and developing countries. New services starting from smartphones and various centers are changing lives, employment, and even politics in developing countries. If we call developed countries the "North" and developing countries the "South," we should look precisely at the "South." There, overwhelming demographics, explosive development of communication environments, and trial and error to solve problems with new technologies are accumulating.

First, digitalization expands the possibilities of emerging countries. Not limited to China, which produced giant platform companies like Alibaba and Tencent, but also India, which introduced electronic biometric authentication, and Southeast Asia, where the spread of delivery and ride-sharing is seen... Venture companies are also being born in Africa, and entrepreneurs returning from studying abroad are looking for opportunities.

Second, digital technology makes the vulnerabilities of emerging countries manifest. The spread of automation technology increases the burden on the labor market, and the development of surveillance technology is being utilized by authoritarian regimes.

In other words, digitalization amplifies not only possibilities but also vulnerabilities in a straightforward manner. To put it simply, digitalization is a double-edged sword. It is difficult to have the best of both worlds.

I wrote down these ideas in one go. Since the author's specialty is the Chinese economy, as expected, there were some difficulties in writing. However, the journey of thinking about the digitalization of emerging countries was a liberating task, like drawing on a blank canvas. Even if it is a poor drawing, I hope the shape and general idea are conveyed and serve as a basis for discussion.

Services utilizing the mobile internet have been implemented in developing sites where dust flies. It looks like an unknown scene, but this is the future norm. And due to the pandemic, this trend is being accelerated in a distorted way.