Digital Inclusion Benchmark

Aim

During WBA’s multi-stakeholder consultation phase, digital companies were identified by key stakeholders as among the most influential to achieve the SDGs. From mobile money applications that give the unbanked access to financial resources to bring themselves out of poverty, to internet and web applications that help people connect and cooperate globally, digital technologies have significant though currently untapped scope to accelerate the SDGs.

To unleash this potential, the barriers excluding billions of people from accessing and productively harnessing digital technology needs to be torn down. Digital technology companies must play a greater role for this to happen. WBA’s corporate benchmarking aims to highlight industries and companies that are currently leading the way in fostering digital inclusion to trigger a race to the top across the digital sector, as well as hold underachieving companies accountable.

Methodology

This third iteration of the Digital Inclusion Benchmark measures and ranks 200 of the world’s most influential technology companies on their responsibility to advance a more inclusive digital society. This is the first iteration that includes the Core Social Indicators (CSI). More specifically, the benchmark measures what companies are doing to:

• enhance universal access to digital technologies
• improve all levels of digital skills
• foster trustworthy use by mitigating risks and harms
• innovate openly, inclusively, and ethically.

This year we also assessed companies on 12 high-level societal expectations that all companies – digital or otherwise – should meet in order to play their part in ensuring that we leave no one behind. These include topics such as whether companies are paying workers a living wage, or paying fair taxes

From laptops, to online news platforms, to the WIFI connection that powers them, digital technology has become indispensable for everyday life. Digital technologies should be available to everyone. If left unaddressed, the growing gap between the under-connected and hyper-digitalised will widen, inflaming existing inequalities.

Frequently asked questions

The Digital Inclusion Benchmark FAQ page provides more elaborated responses to questions you might have as a participating company. Please do visit the page for more information on the benchmark process, the benefits to a participating company, the timelines for publication, etc.