A lot of discussion during the past year has focused on the digital economy, and it comes as no surprise that this ­composite, digitally-driven shift in business models has topped the agendas of many countries across the globe, ­according to Edward Woods, chairman of the Malta Communications Authority while opening the authority’s annual conference held recently.

Dr Woods went on to say how the digital economy has revolutionised the way all sectors operate and interact, even those that are completely distinct from the ICT industry, driving greater efficiency, growth and sustainability.

José Herrera, Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth, told the conference that “in preparation for tomorrow’s digital economy, we need to see from where we have started, where we are now, and where we would like to go.

“We also need to record the challenges we have faced, look beyond our shores and learn from the challenges faced by others and identify how we can circumvent these in the future.”

The conference addressed a variety of topics related to the network layer, such as the socio-economic impact of high-speed networks and the infrastructural requirements to deliver services of the future; the cloud and how this is impacting the application layer and the increased monetisation of content services as a result of the cloud; and finally the social media phenomenon and how this is impacting consumer behaviour and driving demand for higher speed ­services.