This edition is the ninth in a biennial series designed to provide OECD countries with a broad overview of trends and near-term prospects in the information technology (IT) industry, analysis of the growing impact of IT on the economy and society, developments and emerging applications in selected areas of information
technology, and a review of IT policies and new policy directions. The 2008 edition builds on previous editions to further extend the economic and policy analysis, and was extensively updated through mid-November 2008 to take account of rapidly worsening macroeconomic conditions.

The first two chapters provide an overview of the importance and growth of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in national economies, describe recent market dynamics, give a detailed overview of the globalisation of the ICT sector, and provide a thorough analysis of the ongoing shift of production, trade and markets to non-OECD economies, particularly China and India. The third chapter provides an overview of the importance of ICT R&D and innovation, the leading role of the ICT sector in developing new sources of innovation and the growing importance of ICT-related R&D in other sectors. Some of this activity is driven by changing use of the Internet and broadband by consumers and users, which is analysed in the following chapter; the rise of digital content and increasing online delivery in a range of content-rich industries are analysed in Chapter 5. This is followed by a review of some of the economic implications of broadband adoption and use. The last chapter provides a critical overview of IT policy developments and priorities in OECD countries.