Part 3 - Infrastructure

Digital infrastructure

These interventions aim at reducing the costs of internet and handset prices or increase the availability of broadband internet. Efficient telecommunications decrease cost of business, increases market reach, and allows for innovation.

Policy Objectives Addressed	Expected Impacts	KPIs
Democratizing internet access Reducing the costs of access to Telecommunications and ICT services	Increase the use of digital goods and services Development of digital economy and digital innovations	Mobile tariffs Handset prices Internet access 4G mobile network coverage Fixed broadband subscriptions International internet bandwidth Internet access in schools

ICT services and labs: provision of technological goods and services.	→	Zone Franche de la Biotechnologies et des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (ZBTIC) is a biotechnology and ICT-focused free zone in Côte d’Ivoire that provides video-conferencing, communications, Internet, data, and other ICT infrastructure to firms.

Domain names: provision of a national internet address.	→	The Senegalese startup law gives startups the benefit of a domain name ending in ".sn".

Ivory Coast - Zone Franche de la Biotechnologies et des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication

The Zone Franche de la Biotechnologies et des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (ZBTIC) is a biotechnology and ICT-focused free zone in Côte d’Ivoire that provides video-conferencing, communications, Internet, data, and other ICT infrastructure to firms.
ZBTIC aims to reduce risk for promising firms by providing infrastructure that would otherwise be costly for an individual firm to acquire, and it expects significant job creation as a result of access to the free zone.
Between 2012 and January 2015, ZBTIC reportedly had 10 companies enter the facility, including high-profile companies like Orange and MTN, with approximate turnover ranging between 200 million and 2 billion francs. ZBTIC is also reported to have 200 employees working on the zone. Each company is reported to generate 500 or more jobs.

Utilities and Logistics

These interventions aim at giving access and reducing the cost of utilities and improve the quality of of physical infrastructure (roads, air, trains).

Policy Objectives Addressed	Expected Impacts	KPIs
Promoting accessibility to affordable utilities Improving of the quality of physical infrastructure	Increase of SMEs productivity Growth in trade	Percent of firms experiencing water insufficiencies Percent of firms experiencing electrical outages Electrification rate Logistics Performance Index Urbanization rate Population density Quality of railroad

Utilities: Improving the access, cost and quality of basic utility services.	→	Nigeria’s policy seeks to provide basic infrastructural facilities such as access roads, transportation facilities, power supply, water supply and other utilities to qualifying MSME locations and Clusters. It also proposes a reduction in the electricity through the NERC, for qualifying MSMEs and MSME clusters.

Logistics: Improving the quality of the transport infrastructure and the urbanization.	→	Niger’s policy proposes allocating funds to support SMEs in transporting and distributing their goods and services to marketing and export areas as quickly as possible. These funds would be reserved primarily for the transport of regional products.

Technopark Morocco

Technopark Morocco’s mission is to assist in the creation and development of companies in the ICT sector, Green Tech and cultural industries in Morocco. It is managed by the Moroccan Information Technopark Company (MITC) wich is the result of a public-private partnership.
Technopark Morocco create parks for SMEs and gives access to electricity, internet connection, grants and administrative support.
Some subsidies are also available for medium sized enterprises who consume a lot of energy to transition to solar power.

Infrastructure KPIs


Sub Challenge	Description	Indicators	Source
Digital infrastructure	Captures the maturity of the digital infrastructure in a country. It includes costs of internet, availability of broadband internet and handset prices. Efficient telecommunications decrease cost of business, increases market reach, and allows for innovation.	Mobile tariffs	www.mobileconnectivityindex.com
		Handset prices	www.mobileconnectivityindex.com
		Internet access	www.itu.int
		4G mobile network coverage	www.itu.int
		Fixed broadband subscriptions	www.itu.int
		International internet bandwidth	www.itu.int
		Internet access in schools	www.data.uis.unesco.org
Utilities	Measures the availability, reliability and affordability of utilities in a country. A high quality of utilities decreases the costs of business and are fundamental for business operations, especially in the manufacturing services.	Electricity output	www.globalinnovationindex.org
		Access to electricity % population	www.data.worldbank.org
		Getting electricity	www.doingbusiness.org/
		Reliability of electricity supply	www.enterprisesurveys.org
		Reliability of water supply	www.enterprisesurveys.org
Logistics	Measures the quality of physical infrastructure (roads, air, trains) in a country and the administrative logistics process. Good infrastructure and easy procedures reduce the cost of business and transaction costs.	Logistics performance index	www.lpi.worldbank.org
		Quality of road network	www.weforum.org
		Quality of rail network	www.weforum.org
		Quality of air network	www.weforum.org
		Quality of port infrastructure	www.weforum.org
		Gross capital formation	www.globalinnovationindex.org

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Human Capital