An emerging "virtual economy" is creating earning opportunities for semi-skilled and unskilled workers with minimal access to digital infrastructure. The third-party gaming market is worth US$3bn per year and an estimated 100,000 workers earn wages in China and Vietnam by playing online games and creating avatars on behalf of foreign customers.

A growing number of paid crowd-sourcing and micro-work platforms employ workers in tasks ranging from pattern recognition to text transcription. With low barriers to entry, few intermediaries and a high percentage of value generation retained in-country, the virtual economy holds significant potential stimulating local growth and entrepreneurship in developing countries.

The session will offer an overview of the global virtual economy, showcase infoDev’s  ‘Knowledge Map of the Virtual Economy’  and launch infoDev's Mobile Microwork Challenge, to identify new opportunities for microwork that would benefit developing economies.

Speakers

   Vili Lehdonvirta, Researcher, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology 
      Leila Chirayath Janah, CEO of SamaSource
      Ian McDonald, Award winning Science Fiction novelist
      Torbjörn Fredriksson, Chief, ICT Analysis Section, UNCTAD
      Moderated by: Dr. Tim Kelly, Senior ICT Policy Specialist, infoDev


Non-Bank Staff can register using: https://virtualeconomy.eventbrite.com/

Bank Staff should register through LMS.