Open standards in information and communication technologies would improve growth, innovation and international trade, according to a report by a group of experts presented to the World Bank on Friday.
“Openness – a synthesis of collaborative creativity, connectivity, access and transparency – is revolutionising how we communicate, connect and compete,” says the report. “It reshapes ICT ecosystems, and makes it possible to re-engineer government, rewrite business models and deliver customised services to citizens.”
“As technology commingles with other disciplines, this new openness is driving innovation in politics, health care, disaster management and countless other sectors. Today, evolving to more open ICT ecosystems is a decisive, even necessary, step in governance reform, market success or medical discovery,” it explains.
The report, the product of a collaboration of public and private sector experts from all round the world, was published by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.
It does not push for government take up of open source technologies – which are non-proprietary – but for open standards, which allow different proprietary products to communicate. At present most government bodies use products, such as Microsoft Windows, which are not interoperable with rival products.
Such closed products would not disappear under the vision put forward by the report. Rather, they would become part of a more fluid ICT ecosystem that uses all types of products, but is built on five core principles: interoperability, user-centricity, collaboration, sustainability and flexibility.
According to Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson, founder of the Berkman Center, the roadmap “makes pragmatic policy recommendations for governments, businesses, and individuals".
"This is a groundbreaking piece of collaboration by an international team. It will help clarify public issues relating to the structure of the Net and lead, we hope, to action," he added.
