eBay Public Policy Lab’s Sassoon Grigorian presents at the “Rethinking the Digital Economy” forum

Globally, there are now more connected devices than the number of people in the world. Yet this connectivity is not equal throughout the world.

ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations), as a region, still lags behind the world average in terms of Internet penetration. As the Internet becomes more embedded in all sectors of the economy, the cost of not getting online will only continue to mount. With the establishment of the 2015 ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) looming, therein lies the opportunity to achieve digital connectivity to foster the creation of a single market, and encourage regional competitiveness and social inclusion.

To address these challenges, the eBay Public Policy Lab’s Sassoon Grigorian, as well as representatives from Internet Society (ISOC) Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau, and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) spoke at a Forum titled “Rethinking the Digital Economy” which took place in Jakarta, Indonesia on 22 May 2015.

Sassoon outlined the key findings from eBay’s  Commerce 3.0: Enabling ASEAN Small and Medium Enterprises, while the Internet Society (ISOC) Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau discussed their study Unleashing the Potential of the Internet for ASEAN Economies. On a similar vein, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) discussed their report Which Wheels to Grease which shows that minimising restrictions on digital activities – or “e-frictions” and boosting digital trade could contribute up to 5 percent of GDP for the G-20 countries in 2016.

The roundtable focused on the progress Indonesia and ASEAN have made in advancing a vibrant and digitally integrated society and economy and discussion focused on potential pathways for the region to usher in the digital economy.