# A Novel ICT Framework for Sustainable Development Goals
## 1 Introduction
Achieving the SDGs, however, calls for multi-sectoral partnerships, and governments, academic institutions, companies and people need to work together and prepare themselves for this ICT-empowered transformation to a Networked Society. While private-sector applications of ICT have ascended, many of the challenges of sustainable development (education, health, infrastructure, and environmental sustainability) call for an intense role on the part of the public sector and those responsible for policy making. This, in turn, places the focus on institutions, which are critical for the success or failure of development. Governments are responsible for making sure that public-sector organizations, institutions and regulatory frameworks have changed enough to support the ICT-empowered transformation. Institutional quality will increasingly be determined by the extent to which entities adopt innovative solutions to enable the delivery, transparency, openness and efficiency of the public services. Against the background of the ambitious global development agenda, demanding global challenges and ICT-enabled transformation, policy makers are required not only to behave as socio-economic accelerators, but also to recruit the nationwide collective action for transformation. Governments are responsible for policies and legal frameworks that regulate the deployment of ICT. They monitor the land use, distribution of spectrum, right-of-way for fiber and other infrastructure, and the tax and regulatory policies that, in the end, will decide the speed of rollout of the ICT backbone and access networks, the service providers, and the acceptance of ICT-basedsolutions in the vital public services [3]. However, if not used effectively, ICTs may actually make things worse. While there is a positive effect in terms of driving economic growth, increasing efficiency, and extending markets, ICTs may also contribute to economic and social problems by putting emphasis on equity divides and increasing the market power of dominant firms. Hence, managing the growth of ICTs to make the most of the net social benefits is a complex challenge. The achievement of the potential benefits of ICTs for SDGs depends heavily on the existence of complementary elements (\"analog\" complements for the digital economy). First, the basic ICT infrastructure needs to be in place. Nowadays, this entails a universal access to mobile broadband services, and requires that access be available, affordable, and adopted [25]. ICT infrastructure alone, however, is not sufficient to reach the benefits of ICTs. Consumers and workers must have an access to applications and devices, as well as the necessary skills to use ICTs effectively. Imbalances in access to ICTs and the required complementary assets can lead to unbalanced growth and increased economic and social disparities. At best, the poor attention to complementary assets will render the ICT investment ineffective. At worst, ICTs may actually damage the achievement of SDGs. For example, Communication Technology accounted for around 14% of the global electricity usage (worst-case scenario for 2010) [26], and with the growth of its intensity worldwide, Communication Technology is expected (viz. in the expected-case scenario) to consume up to 21% in 2030 (or as much as 51% for the worst-case scenario) unless it becomes more electricity efficient [26]. ICTs will need to meet this challenge if they do not want to become an important contributor to climate change and sustainability problems in their own right. Along with the possibility to become more energy efficient themselves, ICTs are also expected to play a crucial role in making sure that all sectors of the economy are more energy efficient--an indispensable requirement to achieve the global aspirations for improving quality of life in a sustainable manner.