Watch the full interview:
Dr. Jaimee Stuart, Acting Head of Research at the United Nations University Institute in Macau and lead author of the white paper Digital Maturity and Sustainability: Unpacking the Interrelationships between the Global Digitalization Index and Human Development, shares key insights from her collaborative research with Dr. Preeti Raghunath (University of Sheffield) and Dr. Daniele Guariso (The Alan Turing Institute), supported by Huawei.
In the interview, she presents the Global Digitalization Index (GDI) as a comprehensive framework for assessing national digital maturity across 77 countries—representing over 90% of global GDP—through metrics that span connectivity, green energy transitions, digital infrastructure, and sustainable transformation. The discussion highlights how digital maturity intersects with governance quality, social well-being, gender equality, environmental quality, and cybersecurity, all of which are critical dimensions of human development.
The conversation further explores why digital transformation and sustainability should be understood as intertwined "twin transitions" rather than separate policy domains—a pressing concern, given that only 17% of the UN Sustainable Development Goals remain on track. The value of the GDI lies in moving beyond basic connectivity metrics to assess whether nations are achieving sustainable digital maturity that meaningfully advances inclusive human development.
Read the full white paper: Digital Maturity and Sustainability: Unpacking the Interrelationships between the Global Digitalization Index and Human Development
