In 2001, the World Economic Forum and its partner INSEAD recognized the need for a report such as The Global Information Technology Report (GITR) because of the increasing proliferation of technology and its effects on advancing global competitiveness. Now, nearly 15 years later, we are fully experiencing the profound impact that ICTs can bring to businesses, countries, and societies and that stimulate the global economy. Although technology presents unparalleled opportunities for advancing inclusive growth, we are still lacking effective policies that can help foster further developments. The theme of this year’s edition, “ICTs for Inclusive Growth,” is directly related to the Forum’s commitment to this issue and one of its newest initiatives, launched earlier this year at the Annual Meeting 2015: The Future of the Internet Global Challenge. This initiative aims to address some of the global trends that the Report has been tracking for a number of years: digital inclusion and access, cybercrime and cybersecurity, data privacy and usage, shifting business models, and, finally, creating effective and resilient policies for technologies.

Each year, the ICT Industries and Competitiveness Teams at the World Economic Forum collaborate on the annual production of The Global Information Technology Report. Together the teams have seen the series evolve over time to become one of the most respected publications of its kind. More and more policymakers and Forum constituents leverage the Report each year to inform their decision-making processes.

We would like to acknowledge the editors of the Report, Professor Soumitra Dutta at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, Thierry Geiger at the World Economic Forum, and Bruno Lanvin at INSEAD. The World Economic Forum and INSEAD have been publishing the GITR since 2002; through this longstanding partnership, both institutions have developed the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) to reflect the growing importance of technology and innovation across the world.

A special thanks also goes out to our Report partners, Cisco and Strategy& (formerly Booz & Company), for their continuous support and engagement for this year’s edition.

We also wish to convey our gratitude toward the contributors of the Report: Robert Pepper and John Garrity at Cisco Systems; Bahjat El-Darwiche, Mathias Herzog, Milind Singh, and Rami Maalouf at Strategy&, formerly Booz & Company; Michael Kende at the Internet Society; Luis Enriquez, Ferry Grijpink, James Manyika, Lohini Moodley, Sergio Sandoval, Kara Sprague, and Malin Strandell-Jansson at McKinsey & Company; Luis Alvarez at BT Global Services; Anurag Behar at Wipro and the Azim Premji Foundation and Punya Mishra at the Michigan State University; Mikael Hagstroem at SAS; Dale Wiggins at Philips; Dominic Vergine at ARM and the Humanitarian Centre and Laura Hosman at California Polytechnic State University; and Juan Jung at AHCIET – CET.LA. Their unique contributions build upon the insights generated by the NRI and enhance the thematic elements and overall distinctiveness of the Report.

Furthermore, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to Professor Klaus Schwab, Chairman of the World Economic Forum, as well as the core project team: Ciara Browne, Attilio Di Battista, Danil Kerimi, and Oliver Cann. More broadly, we also wish to acknowledge the leadership of the Centre for Global Strategies, Espen Barth Eide, Managing Director, and Jennifer Blanke, Chief Economist, as well as the members of the Global Competitiveness and Risks Team: Margareta Drzeniek-Hanouz (head of the team), Roberto Crotti, Gaelle Dreyer, Caroline, Galvan, Tania Gutknecht, and Cecilia Serin, as well as the members of the Information and Communication Technology Industries Team, under the leadership of Jim Snabe, Chairman of the Centre for Global Industries, and Murat Sönmez, Chief Business Officer: Aurélie Corre, Aurélien Goutorbe, Qin He, William Hoffman, Dimitri Kaskoutas, Derek O’Halloran, Alexandra Shaw, Adam Sherman, and Bruce Weinelt.

Last but not least, we would like to express our gratitude to our 160 Partner Institutes around the world and to all the business executives who completed our Executive Opinion Survey.

Alan Marcus
World Economic Forum