UNCTAD pays special attention to the role of ICTs when helping developing countries to formulate and implement national ICT strategies.

UNCTAD carries out policy-oriented analytical work on the information economy and its implications for developing countries. Its analytical work is published in the annual Information Economy Report (former E-Commerce and Development Report). It also assists governments, businesses and civil society groups that are considering adopting free and open source software policies.

UNCTAD is working to measure the information economy to monitor and analyse how businesses use ICTs and the role the ICT sector plays in the development process. UNCTAD is also developing indicators to monitor progress in the use of ICT for development and contributes to the global Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development.

UNCTAD has also published the Digital Divide: ICT Development Indices 2004, which benchmarks ICT diffusion for over 150 countries using indices of connectivity and access. It also monitors trends in ICT development to raise awareness and helps formulate policies aimed at narrowing the digital divide. For further information, see the Science and Technology website.