For more than a decade, the global conversation on the digital economy has focused on access. Getting people online was the priority. Expanding connectivity was the metric of progress.
That chapter is now closing.
As the digital economy enters a new phase, the defining question is no longer whether people are online; it is whether they can meaningfully participate, create value, and shape the technologies transforming work, society, and opportunity.
This shift matters. Because connectivity alone does not guarantee prosperity.
Inclusion, long recognised as essential, is now becoming urgent. Governments, companies, and institutions, including many DCO Member States, Observers, and partners, are scaling up strategies and investments in digital skills, equitable opportunity, and broader agency. The underlying realisation is simple but consequential: access without capability limits impact.
The shift from access to agency
Nearly four in five people are online, yet approximately 2.2 billion remain offline, mostly in low- and middle-income regions. Even among those who are connected, persistent gaps in skills, confidence, and opportunity continue to shape who benefits from digital transformation. Gender disparities remain stark, particularly in advanced fields such as artificial intelligence and digital services.
The constraint has shifted from access to agency.
The key question is not simply who is connected, but who has the tools, confidence, and opportunity to learn, innovate, start businesses, access services, and exercise influence. Without agency, connectivity risks becoming a passive condition rather than a catalyst for shared prosperity.
Where digital capability is broad, the effects are powerful. Technology becomes embedded across education, healthcare, small business, public services, and entrepreneurship, rather than concentrated in a narrow set of sectors or geographies. Economies that invest in skills, digital public services, and institutional capacity tend to convert connectivity into productivity more effectively.
This is already evident in parts of South and East Asia and the Pacific, where progress in digital government services and skills training now matches or outpaces that of many higher-income economies. These experiences underline an important lesson: outcomes are shaped as much by strategic choices as by income level.
An economic imperative
Yet gaps remain.
Women continue to be underrepresented in advanced digital fields and leadership roles. Only around 3.1 per cent of female graduates specialise in information and communication technology, compared with approximately 9.6 per cent of men. In areas such as artificial intelligence, leadership, investment, and research capacity are heavily concentrated in a small number of firms, countries, and demographic groups.
This imbalance is not only a social issue; it is an economic one.
When large segments of the population are excluded from digital skills, leadership pathways, and entrepreneurial opportunity, economies operate below their potential. Innovation reflects a narrower range of needs and perspectives. Productivity growth slows. Resilience weakens.
By contrast, inclusive digital ecosystems tend to be more dynamic and robust. When women and underrepresented groups participate fully in digital education, enterprise, and governance, technology is applied to a wider range of challenges, from education access and healthcare delivery to small-business productivity and climate resilience.
Capability-building in action
Encouragingly, many governments are now acting on this understanding, including within the DCO community.
In Nigeria, federal programmes aim to train and certify one million people in digital skills, with a longer-term ambition of near-universal digital literacy by 2030. In Saudi Arabia, digital inclusion is a central pillar of Vision 2030, reflected in major investments in digital government, skills, connectivity, and regulatory cooperation. Similar initiatives are advancing across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America.
There is also a growing recognition that digital inclusion and sustainability are closely linked. Digital tools enable more efficient energy systems, smarter resource management, and better environmental data use, reinforcing that inclusion supports long-term resilience as well as growth.
These developments point to a broader conclusion: the digital economy is not a zero-sum race for technological dominance; it is a collective project of capability-building.
Bridging the divide
Countries most likely to succeed over the long term are those that invest not only in infrastructure and platforms, but in people, institutions, trust, and participation. They build education systems that foster digital confidence, support entrepreneurs in adopting technology, and develop digital public services that are accessible, efficient, and trusted.
As policymakers, business leaders, civil society partners, and innovators gathered in Kuwait at the DCO’s International Digital Cooperation Forum under the banner ‘Inclusive prosperity in the age of the AI’ in February this year, the task was clear: Shared principles must translate into practical action that drives meaningful impact.
Growth rates and investment flows remain important, but they are no longer sufficient indicators of progress. Participation, institutional maturity, human capability, and trust matter just as much.
The choices made today in education, skills policies, regulatory frameworks, and investment decisions will shape the digital economy for decades. They will determine whether technology deepens divides or bridges them.
When inclusion is treated not as a social add-on, but as a core economic strategy, digital transformation becomes a force for shared prosperity rather than a source of new inequality.
About the author
Rebecca Cousins is chief of outreach & global communications at the Digital Cooperation Organization, where she leads global engagement and communications efforts to advance inclusive and sustainable digital economy growth across Member States.
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