Special issue: Private sector and digital innovation: catalyts for development

Digital innovation and the “disruption” it causes have a huge impact on society, both North and South. Digital technology provides an innovative basis for sharing knowledge and it can deliver solutions that accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): enhancing financial inclusion through mobile money; emancipating and untethering young people by giving them access to e-education; protecting the environment and partnering the energy transition through smarter use of resources (smart grids, e-agriculture); or improving access to healthcare through telemedecine and smartphone-based medical diagnosis. The current digital innovation boom in developing countries can drive technological leapfrogging to the benefit of the economies in question. And it can also provide inspiration for France and Europe in general: we have a lot to learn from the cross-fertilisation processes at work in development projects.