Telecoms and computers gave birth to the Internet, which transformed its parents, leading to what has been called the new ICT ecosystem. The new ecosystem is made up of equipment (computers, servers, routers, switches, phones, etc.) configured in networks and providing platforms which Internet providers use to deliver content and applications. It is a dynamic system which provides a key engine for economic and social development at both the global and national levels. However, the New ecosystem requires new ways of thinking and new modes of governance if the most is to be made of its potential.

The main argument of this present book is that at the heart of the new ecosystem is innovation. It is innovation that fuels the system as it transforms it. However, the innovation that occurs at national levels of the new ecosystem does not occur automatically. It cannot be assumed that the innovation process in this system will always work the way we want it to. Indeed, the comparative analysis of the new ecosystem in different countries reveals that some components of the system work better in some countries and regions than in others. This raises at a national level the policy dilemma of whether to try and catch up in an area where a country has fallen behind or to abandon it to the shifting sands of the international division of labour.

For example, in the early days of the mobile industry, mobile communications worked best in Scandinavia.