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ITU Newslog - Conferences and Events


  • The Importance of National Broadband Plans

    In its latest September edition, the ITU News magazine of the ITU examines the need for national broadband plans, their aims and relationship with national targets and goals.

    A national broadband plan is as much a social contract as a plan of action to develop the industry base. It can be understood as bringing about a stronger foundation for effective governance, private investment and more active citizenship, leading to a desirable social and economic future.

    The article draws on a discussion paper entitled “Setting national broadband policies, strategies and plans: A practical step-by-step approach”, written by Dr Bob Horton, consultant for the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU–D), and prepared for the 11th ITU Global Symposium for Regulators 2011, to be held in Armenia City, Colombia, on 21–23 September 2011.

    For more information, please read here.



  • ITU and the Broadband Commission for Digital Development

    ITU and the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development are proud to host the Broadband Leadership Summit on 24-25 October 2011, immediately before the opening of ITU TELECOM World 2011. The Broadband Leadership Summit will feature a series of eight Plenary Sessions bringing together top CEOs (including Cisco, Intel, Fujitsu, Ericsson and Alcatel Lucent), various Heads of State and Governments, the Heads of a number of international organizations (including UNESCO, the OECD and WIPO) and members of the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Digital Development with other key players to discuss the issues facing today's global broadband industry.

    Hot topics to be debated by panellists and speakers include the benefits of broadband for stimulating economic growth and jobs, business models that work in emerging markets, the evolution of online regulation, latest trends in social media and smart societies, the impact of the latest financial repercussions on financing the industry and how broadband can boost progress in achieving the MDGs. Watch this space for further announcements!



  • Why are young girls rejecting careers in technology?

    ITU'S High-level Debate held to commemorate 100 years of International Women's Day tackled the issue of declining female participation in the information and communication technology industry.

    Professor Anastasia Ailamaki, Director, DIAS Lab, School of Computer & Communication Sciences, EPFLIt's a little-known fact that women were the original programmers of ENIAC, the US government's first ever computer. But while teenage girls now use computers and the Internet at rates similar to boys, they are five times less likely to consider a technology-related career.

    It wasn't always so. In the US in the 1980s, for example, young women were earning 37% of computer science degrees; today, that number has fallen to around 20%.
    That lack of trained female professionals in turn means that in OECD countries, women now account for under 20% of ICT specialists in OECD countries. It also means that most developed countries are forecasting an alarming shortfall in the number of skilled staff to fill upcoming jobs in the ICT sector. The European Union calculates that in 10 years' time there will be a lack of some 300,000 people to fill ICT jobs in the region; globally, the shortfall is closer to 1.2 million.

    With computer and information systems managers consistently ranked among the top 20 best-paying jobs – on a par with surgeons, orthodontists, airline pilots and lawyers – why are young women turning their backs on technology?

    ITU's High-level Panel of experts from government, the ICT industry, the education sector and the media agreed that major problems include a poor perception of the industry among girls, and a lack of inspiring role models.

    Finnish Communications Minister Suvi Lindén spoke of a culture of negativity around science and maths that is affecting girls as young as primary level. Educator Inal Uygur of the International School of Geneva noted that teachers unwittingly or even deliberately put girls off technology as a career, often with a misplaced sense that they are acting in the girl's best interests. Professor Anastasia Ailamaki, who leads the DIAS Lab at the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, observed that male teachers' envy of young girls' talents can also sometimes play an insidious role.

    Ms Alethea Lodge-Clarke, Programme Manager, Public Private Partnerships DigiGirlz, Microsoft Industry representatives Alethea Lodge-Clark of Microsoft and Victor Agnellini of Alcatel-Lucent affirmed that encouraging more girls into technology careers was important to the ongoing growth of the ICT industry, particularly in Europe and the US. Both highlighted their own companies' initiatives to redress the problem, such as the Digigirlz programme managed globally by Microsoft, and female-oriented initiatives managed by the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation in countries around the world.  Aurora Velez, Chief Producer of the Learning World series at Euronews, pointed to some of the innovative approaches her team has uncovered around the world, and hosted the screening of two Learning World stories created for this year's International Women's Day, both focused on encouraging girls to think about careers in technology.

    Dr Speranza Ndege, Director of the Institute of Open, Distance and e-Learning at Kenya's Kenyatta University, told of the strong resistance she met from male colleagues when she crossed over from the traditional female academic domain of social sciences to ICTs. ITU's own Gitanjali Sah, who works as an ICT analyst focused on development issues, brought a regional perspective, noting that ICT training for girls was very popular in much of the Asia region, because of its perceived prestige.

    And Serbian Minister Jasna Matiã, who has earned an international reputation as a passionate champion of technology education for women, proposed a concrete way forward with the creation of a Girls in ICT Day, to be held on the fourth Thursday in April every year, where governments, private industry and the education sector will be encouraged to team up to promote technology as an attractive career choice for female students.

    from left to right: Finnish Communications Minister Suvi Lindén, ITU's Head of Strategic Planning and Membership department Doreen Bogdan, and Serbian Minister Jasna Mati¿The event was attended by around 100 representatives from UN agencies, national missions, the ICT industry, the education sector and the general public.

     



  • ITU Secretary-General addresses Annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

    In his address to the Forum, Dr Hamadoun Touré emphasized the power of innovation and how ICTs will play an important role in overcoming the economic crisis.>

    Dr Touré met His Excellency Dmitry A. Medvedev, President of the Russian Federation, who reconfirmed the commitment of the Russian Federation to ITU. During his visit, he had the opportunity to discuss with Minister Shchegolev and other senior officials key issues related to the Union's objectives, including cybersecurity, climate change and the upcoming Connect CIS Summit.

    His visit generated much interest in the planned ITU ICT Exploratorium which is scheduled for opening in 2010.

    >

  • ICTD 2009

    ICT for Development Conference (ICTD 2009 http://ictd2009.org/cfp.html



  • ITU Sub-Regional Seminar

    The ITU Sub-Regional Seminar was held in Belgrade , Republic of Serbia from 27-29 April. Dr Touré met with H.E. Mr Mirko Cvetkovic, Prime Minister of Serbia. As an integral part of the Seminar, the Ministerial Round Table on "Switchover from Analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting in Central and Eastern Europe" was chaired by H.E. Ms Jasna Matic, Minister of Telecommunications & Information Society, Republic of Serbia and Dr Hamadoun Touré, ITU Secretary-General. This event gathered about 155 high-level participants and gave an opportunity to better understand the complexity of the switchover from analogue to digital as well as facilitated a strategic dialogue aimed at considering the most important technical, regulatory and economical aspects of the process.

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  • World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF)

    The World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF-2009) was preceded by a Special Strategic Dialogue: on the theme "Confronting the Crisis". The outcome of WTPF was the Lisbon Consensus.

     

    Press releases: 

The Process of Great Leadership : Model the way - When the process gets tough, get your hands dirty. A boss tells others what to do, a leader shows that it can be done.

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