Although the internet's official birthday is often debated, it was the invention of the world wide web that drove the democratization of information access and shaped the modern internet we use today. Created by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee, the World Wide Web was launched to the public in 1993 and brought with it the dawn of online communication, e-commerce and the beginning of the digital economy. Despite the enormous progress since its invention, 2.6 billion people still lack internet access and global digital inclusion is considered a priority. The World Economic Forum's EDISON Alliance aims to bridge this gap and digitally connect 1 billion people to essential services like healthcare, education and finance by 2025. The emergence of publicly available Wi-Fi in 1997 changed the face of internet access ' removing the need to tether to a network via a cable. Without Wi-Fi, the smartphone and the ever-present internet connection we've come to rely on, wouldn't have been...
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