Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has the capability to provide developing nations with an unprecedented opportunity to meet vital development goals and thus empower them to ‘leapfrog’ several stages of their development far more effectively than before. It is argued that those nations that succeed in harnessing the potential of ICT can look forward to greatly expanded economic growth, dramatically improved human welfare, and stronger forms of democratic governance, thus playing a specific role in furthering and enhancing sustainable development.

The pervasive potential impact of ICT emerges from being used as control technology, leading to innovations in products and processes in the manufacturing sectors and resources extraction industries. ICTs have become indispensable ingredients in all forms and processes of economic activity ranging from stock inventories, product and service information, marketing, manufacturing, and design. Quantitative assessment of the impact of ICT becomes difficult, as it is embedded and integrated in all industrial and service sectors. ICT directly influences human development through access to information, knowledge and enlarging choices. The long-term impact of ICT lies in its ability to directly expand human choices through increased access to information and knowledge. ICT breaks barriers to human development in at least three ways not possible before or with other forms of technology:

• Barriers to Human Knowledge : The Internet and other ICT tools are increasingly becoming key delivery mechanisms for sections of the population that did not have access to educational infrastructure and content. ICTs are also being actively used in promoting life-long learning and continued education, reintegrating unemployed people into the workforce through re-education and retooling of skills.
• Breaking Barriers to Participation : Internet and ICT based news and information groups have contributed to the creation of a far more vibrant public sphere. In many parts of the World, where the mass media have been and continue to be strictly controlled by governments, the Internet has offered a new medium of political mobilization and participation.
• Breaking Barriers to Economic Opportunity : Since the ICT sector requires less initial investment than the more traditional sectors of industrial activity, it lowers the barriers to entry into the economy for people who could never break into the industrial sector; e.g., compare the cost of setting up a steel plant with setting up desktop publishing. ICT provides new and unprecedented opportunities to people who have proficiency in handling ICT tools and have an idea or service to sell. This was undoubtedly one of the underlying forces of the dot com boom.