The UK economy could gain £22bn in economic benefits by ensuring that people who do not currently use the Internet get connected, according to the government task force.
The task force’s initiative, dubbed Race Online 2012, will target the digitally and socially excluded - estimated to be 14 million people - with the aim of getting them all online in the next three years.It is an ambitious project, but other countries have done it previously and there are some compelling reasons for driving it forward.
According to their research, the prospective savings in the public sector alone are considerable, as £900m of customer contact savings could be generated if digitally excluded adults were online.
Digital approaches can also allow for remote working, which promotes a greater use of the web, reduces costs and increases the productivity of employees.
However, in order to promote digital inclusion, connectivity needs to be made more accessible to users by lowering the cost and extending the coverage of broadband networks.
The report also maintains that if five per cent of the digitally excluded unemployed could find work by using job websites, an estimated £560m could be generated for the UK economy.
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As featured on theinquirer.net.