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WUZHEN, Zhejiang, Dec. 5-- The tucked-away river town of Wuzhen may not be an obvious site for the World Internet Conference, but the annual event shows that Internet connection is more important to modern life than location. This year's conference, the fourth ever, featured a vision for the future of the east China town's century-old wooden houses: retrofitting with "smart home" systems that bring breakfast first thing in the morning and hail driverless cars to take residents to work after the morning meal. Mobile payment, facial recognition, shared bikes and omnipresent wifi have become a part of everyday life for residents in Wuzhen, which makes Luigi Gambardella, president of ChinaEU, a Brussels-based association that promotes communication between China and Europe, wonder whether the technology can be copied in less developed regions. World Bank statistics show that even among the poorest 20 percent of the world's population, nearly 70 percent have cellphones, meaning more households have access to the digital devices than to clean water, improved toilets or electricity. In China, there are more than eight million online shops on Alibaba's e-commerce platform, 62 percent of which are small shops. The percentage of female shop owners is growing, and the disabled already account for one percent of e-shop owners. Other corners of the world have also benefited from the "digital dividend." In Kenya, remittance costs have been reduced by over 90 percent for migrant workers who send money back to their families in rural areas, thanks to digital payment systems. In India, the Aadhar biometric ID system has served more than one billion, especially poor people, while preventing corruption and waste, saving the government billions of dollars every year. | 
