G20 leaders stress the importance of the digital economy for growth and development

G20 leaders convened for their annual summit on 4-5 September, in Hangzhou, China. The communique released at the end of the summit, as well as the adopted Blueprint on Innovative Growth, emphasise the role of the digital economy and the new industrial revolution (characterised by emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and virtual reality) as main contributors to a sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth and development. In order to encourage sustainable progress in these two areas, G20 commits to a series of policies and actions covering several digital policy issues: bridging the digital divide; leveraging the opportunities and coping with the challenges brought by emerging technologies; fostering favourable conditions for achieving trust and security in the digital environment, while ensuring respect for privacy and personal data protection; protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights; improving training and skills for science, technology and innovation. For more details, read Diplo’s blog post.