Beginning with the dot-com meltdown in the late twentieth century,

then the rapid economic rise of China, and continuing through the

financial crisis of 2008–2009, the global economy has been in turmoil.

The most recent manifestations—staggeringly high levels of global youth

unemployment, the debt crisis in southern Europe, the scale of the United

States’ national debt, the continued erosion of traditional manufacturing—

illustrate the rapid transitions underway around the world. For national

and regional governments charged with maintaining jobs, creating and

sustaining prosperity, and financing needed social programs, responding

to the challenges of the twenty-first-century economy remains one of the

highest priorities. In the midst of this uncertainty, one economic sector—

information and communications technology (ICT), particularly