Author: Digital World

Deploying broadband in rural areas and developing countries to bring the internet and all its benefits to the next billion is not, by itself, enough. There needs to be more than a business plan, more than just technology; there has to be awareness, demand and content.

Satya N. Gupta, Country Managing Director of Bluetown, summed up the most important key criteria for establishing meaningful connectivity in rural areas in his patent 5 “Ls”:  low cost technology; low power for areas that are generally off-grid; low maintenance systems where digital skills on the ground are limited; local control to ensure better quality of service; and local cloud, so that users can enjoy relevant content and government services without having to make use of expensive international connectivity.

Without a viable business case to invest in infrastructure roll out, telcos don’t generally reach the villages, he continued – and government USO funding is not enough. The solution may be a third party independent infrastructure provider working in partnership with many service providers for the last mile: “With that, you are bridging the missing link between no government and no telco motivation.”

Commenting on the apparent mismatch between national broadband plans or digital agendas, and what is actually happening in rural areas, moderator Antonio Garcia Zaballos, Lead Specialist Telecommunications, Inter-American Development Bank, said: “We need to define and implement policies to encourage investment and provide final users with interest to make the most of the opportunities.”

Wireless may well be the best approach to bridging the digital divide, suggested Veni Shone, President of TDD Product Line, Huawei, especially given the technological advances enabling a low cost, high quality wireless to the home solution. The other side of the coin, of course, is demand, as even those with connectivity might not access the internet “because of a lack of content, or content in a different language. Local content can accelerate deployment and usage of broadband structures.”

No one underestimates the importance of connectivity, agreed

Atef Helmy, Senior Advisor to the Board, Orange Middle East and Africa, Egypt.  “But it is not the act of connection or number of connections that creates value; it is the outcome of those connections that make it possible to achieve a digital society.”

A successful business case rests, then on content and the value citizens will get out of internet usage. Issues need to be addressed at both global and national level, he continued, if we are to accelerate the creation of digital content.

Measures should include a national strategy and vision for content; enhanced protection of local content; more investment in research and development of digital content and increased incentives to speed up its creation.

An important aspect is having domain names and IP addresses in local language. ICANN, explained Akinori Maemura, Board Director, is working to formalize international domain names in many different scripts, including the thousands of African spoken languages and some 20 scripts largely ignored online to date – a major step in encouraging the creation of local content and a local app developer ecosystem.

Establishing innovation hubs and incubators to support local entrepreneurship; technology neutral incentive plans to encourage fixed and wireless roll out; and comprehensive digital literacy including programmes throughout government and formal education were amongst other measures discussed in this important session – the final panel debate at a content-rich and fascinating ITU Telecom World 2017.

At ITU Telecom World 2017 discussions focused on smart digital transformation – and how future technologies will bring benefits to all – including those in developing countries, youth and especially for women and girls.

Many of the debates throughout the event mainstreamed issues related to gender into larger debates around Artificial Intelligence, Small and medium Enterprises (SMEs), the push for digital skills and more.

Kiki Rizki, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Nurbaya Initiative works with the government of Indonesia to provide solutions for SMEs by helping them digitize, giving access to the digital world. In a session, Founders panel: From Startup to Scaleup, she talked about the specific situation in Indonesia and discussed the gender barriers that female founders often have to face. She talked about the situation “almost every woman” has had the experience of, where she stated an idea that was dismissed, only to be repeated by a male colleague, and only then is attention given to the idea. She talked about the need to build resilience for all entrepreneurs, but especially women.

At the Telecom World exhibition Leah Akingeneye, Ms. Geek Rwanda 2017, was at the Rwanda Pavilion to discuss her experience of winning Ms. Geek Rwanda, a competition designed and organized by Girls in ICT Rwanda to inspire girls to use technology, innovation and critical thinking to solve problems in the country, and to consider careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). Leah’s winning solution is the Bus System Simulator, a web and mobile-based solution using real-time data to improve public transport in the capital, Kigali. The app lets commuters locate the nearest bus stop and buses, destinations and available space, enabling transport operators to track trips and plan better.

One of the Winners of the ITU Telecom World Awards 2017, Temitope Awosika, from Nigeria, won the ITU Telecom World SME Award for Greatest social impact, for MEDSAF. MEDSAF is a company that utilizes technology to make the process of buying and selling medication easy, and efficient which results in cost-effective and safe medication for the public.

When asked about specific barriers that she has faced as a woman entrepreneur she stated, “Gender bias in society lingers, and in some parts of the world even more so… But if you know what you want to achieve, it’s only a distraction that does not need attention.” She said that as a woman entrepreneur she centers on “working with people you have synergy with… and keeping your focus.”

The changing skills profile of the growing digital economy means that serious capacity shortages are likely in the near future. Without the skills to use ICT solutions and applications, people throughout the world will be excluded from the digital economy and the opportunities it presents for employment, empowerment and social benefit.

Reducing the e-skills gap is critical in both developed and developing nations, as much amongst the as-yet-unconnected as those starting on the 4G- and 5G-enabled road to smart societies.

Birendra Sasmal, CEO of Subah Holding Company Limited, Ghana, discussed the challenges of evolving his workforce and recruiting specific professionals in a developing market. The biggest issue is the huge gap in basic software engineering and programming expertise, he said, highlighting a common thread of the debate: the mismatch between current education curricula and the skills needed by the industries and businesses on the ground.

Such is the pace of technological development, businesses in developing market are often left running to catch up – and to keep ahead of the “constant gap”, both between the newest and fastest technologies in other parts of the world, and the lack of more basic skills in project management, coding and programming.

Subah has established its own five-year plan, with a training centre offering local graduates a comprehensive development programme including work experience and a year abroad.  The investment is naturally not without risk, but as Sasmal explained, there is an important element of social responsibility and commitment to national development involved.

The company is now working with universities, schools and the government to close the skills gap through primary, secondary and tertiary curricula that may better prepare young Ghanaians for future careers in the digital economy.

Miko Nxele, Senior Human Capacity Building Officer at ITU, explained how ITU Centres of Excellence evolved as a key initiative to address skills needed by ICT professionals and executives throughout the world.

ITU is an integrator, responding to the needs of its membership, but the challenge of capacity building does not belong to one organization alone, he explained. “It is everyone’s responsibility: government, academia and citizens must work together as key stakeholders,” he said, to develop strategy and establish frameworks. The role of the private sector should also not be ignored – why should market-driven digital skills programmes not be part of the mix?

Leah Akingeneye, winner of the Miss Geek Rwanda competition to inspire girls to use technology, innovation and innovative thinking to solve problems, spoke of the enormous opportunities available to those with digital skills in Africa, saying that “good technology digital skills are skills for life.”

Whether we have the right skills to take advantage of smart digital transformation or not depends on the varying states of digital preparation in different global, regional or national regions, says Danil Kerimi, Director, Information and Communication Technology Industries, World Economic Forum.

Government certainly has a big role to play in developing digital skills, he said, but “I think citizens need to drive this and recognize what skills they need and how to get them. Then they can make education providers accountable” and make change happen to close the gap between supply and demand on the labour market.

Ozzeir Khan, Chief, Business Relationship Management, UN, spoke on the need to develop innovation labs and new technology to support SMEs around the world as a key driver of growth in the digital economy.

Rwanda has long been at the forefront of government-led digital transformation – and not just in Africa. Following its dream of transforming the country into a knowledge-based economy by 2020, Rwanda has worked hard to create an enabling policy and regulatory environment, develop infrastructure and smart services, support a flourishing digital entrepreneurship ecosystem, and build human capacity.

Rwanda’s National Pavilion provides an excellent opportunity to discuss initiatives in all these areas, including “Irembo”, a digital government platform set to feature some 100 operational services by the end of the year. It enables citizens to access and pay for government services effectively, simply and at reduced cost – but in its first two years, it has exposed the need to continue work on developing citizens’ digital skills.

Enter the new Digital Talent Policy, aimed at strengthening ICT training and qualifications in Rwanda to increase digital literacy and bridge the existing skills gap. All levels of society in Rwanda should be able to access digital training, both as part of everyday activities and at the heart of the national education curriculum.  Building up a critical mass of 10 000 ICT experts will transform the country into a producer and exporter of ICTs both in the region, and globally.

The ultimate goal is digital literacy for all, with the internet as a basic utility and full digitalized citizens and government by 2050. The National Pavilion here at ITU Telecom World 2017 also showcases one of the future stars of that digital nation: Leah Akingeneye, Ms. Geek 2017.

Ms. Geek Rwanda is a competition designed and organized by Girls in ICT Rwanda to inspire girls to use technology, innovation and critical thinking to solve problems in the country, and to consider careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). Leah’s winning solution is the Bus System Simulator, a web and mobile-based solution using real-time data to improve public transport in the capital, Kigali. The app lets commuters locate the nearest bus stop and buses, destinations and available space, enabling transport operators to track trips and plan better.

Smart digital transformation is truly underway in Rwanda!

A diverse panel from financial institutions, venture capitalists, academia and start-ups considered key questions around AI and financial services, in a session moderated by IBM’s Neil Sahota.

For Stephen Ibaraki, Founding Chair, Global Industry Council & Vice-chair, IP3 Board, International Federation for Information Processing, Canada, AI offers great potential for the streamlining of labour- intensive procedures, such as regulatory compliance scrutinizing or mortgage applications. Procedures that previously took days now take a mere 5 minutes. “Ai is everywhere, embedded, it is a reality of life,” he told delegates.

It’s not just customer facing activities which AI can help streamline; tools such as natural language processing  and machine learning  also have tremendous potential for enhancing internal processes explained Andy Nam, Chief Information Officer, Standard Chartered Bank Korea Limited, Republic of Korea.

For Woochang Kim, Head, KAIST Center for Wealth Management Technologies/Managing Editor, Quantitative Finance, the value of AI lies with serving “regular people,” whom serving can otherwise be expensive. AI can help “providing the same services to normal people. It’s an unexplored market.” He explained

AI has much to offer in a field such as microfinance, where dealing with the unbanked can be time consuming. “AI can be made more efficient by technology that engages users and connects disparate data points,” explained Chris Czerwonka, Chief Innovation Officer, InvestED, USA. Crucially, AI can also provide local language interaction.

Humans and AI can co-work to achieve effective results, according to Andy Choi of the Republic of Korea’s MoneyBrain, who gave two examples where the AI can receive the message and, if not able to complete the request, humans can finalise it, or alternatively humans can take the call whilst AI analyses it at the same time to help find the optimal solution.

Challenges still abound

No doubt AI offers a great deal of promise but despite a lot of open source tools, more is needed to make it truly accessible, according to Ibaraki. Czerwonka warned of a digital divide: although we are still at a relatively early stage in terms of an AI curve, small enterprises also need access to unlock data sets.

A further challenge for start-ups, explained Czerwonka, is finding the right talent. In today’s lean start-up market, many new entrants might have great visions of implanting a supercharged vision of AI but to do this needs people ready and experienced to build out the technology, and affordably, as well as having some domain expertise too. AI itself may not be that “tough” but the fact that everything is interlinked, such as large data sets or an end to end ecosystem, makes the necessary skillset harder to find according to Nam.

There are also a host of ethical and legal challenges to solve – if AI makes a bad decision, for example, who should be held accountable? As these technologies evolve, so too will the regulatory concerns.

The road ahead

Ensuring people understand AI is crucial in order for it to advance and provide complete value, according to Czerwonka. People also need to understand and be prepared “If the switch goes off and you cannot use AI, you still have the processes and internal controls in place to advance business models.”

For companies starting up in AI, timing is key, but it is, according to Choi a good market to be in if you do it right. A sound strategy, structure, process are essential as a precursor to unleashing AI. AI will not substitute human collaboration, it will be in addition to it. As a precursor to launching AI, explained Czerwonka, it is prudent to make sure sound strategy, process and structure are in place in order to underpin AI. It’s a long journey, not a sprint, concluded Nam. But be sure to check reality, manage expectations and whatever you do, don’t give up!

Infrastructure, investment, innovation and inclusiveness are the four factors fundamental to ensuring universal access and advancing smart digital transformation, ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao reminded speakers at the first Ministerial Roundtable session at ITU Telecom World 2017. Unless we can provide connectivity for all, leaving no one behind, smart digital ecosystems will simply generate more exclusion.

No one should be excluded from the benefits of future developments, where new technologies such as the cloud, 5G, IoT and AI, are bringing “a paradigm shift not only in social and economic sectors, but across the lives of all citizens,” explained Chang Whan Ma, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea. And it’s happening at pace we could never have anticipated: “The future we imagined is being realized faster than we predicted. Imagination is becoming reality with the help of cutting-edge services and applications.”

He outlined Korea’s policy efforts to support the transformation and development of the ICT sector and respond to the fourth industrial revolution, including creating an encouraging environment to nurture creativity and innovation, as well as establishing an industrial ecosystem spearheaded by SMEs. The ultimate aim of transformation is the creation of future-proof jobs based on new ICT technologies, economic revitalization and ongoing growth.

He stressed the importance of placing humans in the centre of future societies, sharing benefits without discrimination and implementing policy to ensure no one is left out of digital transformation.  Korea is committed to working together with other nations to share its knowledge and experiences, to address global agendas, and to move together towards a sustainable and inclusive society with global prosperity.

“Accelerating ICT development means enriching the future,” according to Jianjun Zhou, Vice President of Carrier Business BG, Huawei. “ICT is not just about technologies and the telecom industry, but also about society, the economy and all industries. ICT is not hype, it is the hyper energy of the economic and business revolution.”

There is no doubt of the significant contribution ICT makes to economic growth, productivity and people’s well-being in all markets throughout the world. Providing the necessary physical, human and policy resources necessary to connect people, homes, governments and enterprises is critical to development and human happiness. But given that more 3 billion people globally have no access to broadband connection, it is imperative that we act now, and act together, to address the digital gap.

Encouraging the enhanced investment so urgently required in emerging markets means establishing a lower-risk environment, offering faster returns on investment, and providing an enabling policy and regulatory environment, including innovative thinking on taxation and opening up infrastructure sites.

He urged all stakeholders to be proactive and collaborative in developing ICTs, innovative solutions and equipment to serve different scenarios in the best way possible, creating services that are “valuable but affordable” and addressing both supply and demand – a mobile government service, for example, should be accompanied by a programme to enhance digital awareness.

Echoing this call for cooperation across sectors and nations, Minette Libom Li Likeng, Minister of Posts and Telecommuncations of Cameroon, outlined her country’s ambition to become a technological leader and Central African hub by partnering with the private sector to raise the contribution of ICTs to the economy up to 10% by 2020, facilitating the creation of many new jobs.

Cameroon’s experience in digital content such as e-banking, e-health and e-agriculture, as well as good international connectivity, young population, and nascent culture of digital entrepreneurship offer much to prospective investors. Young people in Cameroon are already active and creative in the digital world, she continued, setting up startups even without an enabling framework. Cooperation from the ITU, investors and international partners is essential to increase the rate of transformation.

Digital transformation is driven by political will, the Minister noted, ensuring that collaboration happens within and across government departments, ministries and agencies, as well as with external private sector partners providing investment. Sharing knowledge and expertise across nations is also important, such as Korea’s help in establishing an e-procurement system for government in Cameroon.

“Some countries are ahead, some have done very well, but we cannot be left behind,” she continued, calling for further investment and assistance from those more advanced in the process of digital transformation.

The contrast between countries at different stages on the journey to transformation can be a source of inspiration and an opportunity to share good practice. In the words of Monchito Ibrahim, Under-Secretary, Department of Information and Communications, Philippines, “To be in a smart city as advanced as Busan is as good as time-travelling for us. It’s a benchmark of what could be possible, a yardstick for digital maturity.”

The challenge is in part one of making both government and people aware of the opportunities of ICTs, big data, and smart cities in the Philippines.  “The one and only way to a smart nation is a smart government that works as one with its citizens,” he said, outlining the need to set up reliable infrastructure for seamless data sharing across government, promote transparent e government and fragment the silos of government departments.

“The pace of technology waits for no one, but government can help make us ready for this brave new world, looking to learn from other countries for more reliable infrastructure and to build ICT-enabled sectors,” he continued. The IT sector excluding telecoms already contributes 8% of GDP, primarily through the services sector, a figure which will rise to 15% by 2022: how much bigger would the sector be if broadband connection was better?

For Elmir Tofig oglu Velizadeh, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the crucial role of ICTs in changing individual lives and the economy is reflected in the huge investment made in infrastructure, cloud technology and services.  Azerbaijan uses technology in all areas of development, state, society and economy.

He echoed the importance of government as a key agent in driving digital transformation, and of sharing information in international fora such as this roundtable. “Government can speed up the process of ICT development with government initiatives and by creating a favourable environment for cooperation with the private sector, as well as by studying international best practice, forwarding important projects and sharing experience regionally.”

International collaboration is increasingly significant, given both the advent of radically transformative technologies such as AI, 5G, automation and IoT, and the need to avoid further deepening the digital divide between developed and developing nations.

Jailini Bin Johari, Deputy Minister of Communications and Multimedia in Malaysia, pointed out that disruption is, after all, nothing new. The transformation of the ICT sector which began some 20 years ago with liberalization has not stopped, but has continued on a journey through reform, convergence, new regulations, new licensing regimes, the arrival of the internet and restructuring. As broadband networks and the digital economy continue to grow, the process of transformation is unlikely to stop.

Policy-makers must be flexible and pragmatic as the ICT sector both transforms itself, and facilitates transformation in other sectors.  He shared Malaysia’s target of expanding broadband coverage to 95% of its geography, which will allow the internet economy to grow and new ideas to be exchanged, with ICTs representing 20% of the economy by 2020.

“We must facilitate international e commerce and internet-based innovation, continue to embrace the digital economy and connectivity, and address the widening digital divide,” he said, as well as introducing policy and regulatory approaches which are conducive to private sector investment in infrastructure, the development of affordable communication services and ensuring that consumers benefit from innovation.

As the largest market in South East Asia, the government of Indonesia is aiming for a digital market worth USD130 billion dollars by 2020, built in part by some 1 000 startups, explained Rudiantara, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.  Its priorities include reducing the cost of logistics in the archipelago, which is as much as 20% of national GDP; ensuring consumer protection; encouraging innovation; and a fair taxation policy in response to the move from a goods-based economy to a services-based one.

The challenge of ensuring connectivity has been met by the application of USO schemes, reducing internal bureaucracy, and encouraging private sector investment.  The main concerns of the country are customer service, rights and obligations for security and tax issues as new market entrants from overseas offer content and services over local networks. “The issue of the internet going beyond borders needs to be discussed at international level,” he added.

“The main priority of the government in Belarus is to ensure balanced economic growth to improve the quality of life of the nation’s people,“ stated H.E. Sergei Popkov, Minster of Communications and Informatization.

The ICT sector is recognized as the main driver of future economic growth and development, and “the development of the information society and effective digital transformation of the country are viewed as tasks of national importance,” requiring coordination and integration of state, businesses and civil society.

He added that Belarus has already achieved all Connect 2020 measures, and that by the end of 2018 all last mile infrastructure will be finished, meaning all residents of the country will have broadband internet access, enabling the government to provide a variety of ICT services for the population in the future.

Discussing 5G as the driving force of the digital ecosystem worldwide with representatives of all key stakeholders raised a number of fascinating issues as hard to pin down as 5G itself.

Sébastien Soriano, BEREC Chair and President, ARCEP, France, shared a uniquely European perspective as the chair of the body of regulators charged by the EU institution with harmonizing regulation across the continent – and repositioning Europe as a global leader in innovative technology. “5g is not just another technology: together with the IoT and AI, it is the innovation wave that Europe wants to surf to be in the tech scene,” he said.

This ultimately political mission is based on exploiting the continent’s innate diversity, enabling it to experiment with a variety of solutions in differing contexts. No one size fits all, as the familiar mantra of technology roll-out goes; but the ambitious aim of early network introduction in 2018 and the first large scale commercial deployment in 2020 calls for a common approach to spectrum, to finding smart solutions across a range of verticals beyond simply telecoms, and to creating a new legal framework for long-term investment. Competition, after all, should inspire investment rather than limiting it, as “we are not a low-cost continent, but one that invests, especially in 5G.”

Seeking to move away from the concept of 5G as simply the next technological step-change, Inmarsat’s Donna Bethea Murphy reminded the panel that we are on the edge of a revolution, rather than an evolution – and one with unpredictable results. There is no specific network business model or frequency band, rather a collaboration of multiple technologies, verticals, and bands, providing highly reliable, ubiquitous, high capacity for a multitude of use cases – but offering the end user a seamless experience, wherever they are.

Seamless connectivity means the user will be largely unaware of it as “all technologies, fixed, wireless, wifi, will work together, with satellite playing a key role in the 5G revolution to make sure the urban versus rural divide doesn’t get bigger” and that we end up with a smart society, not a collection of smart cities.

“Mobile is at the heart of the current transformation and at the heart of the future age of automation,” according to Andy Hudson, Head of Technology Policy, GSMA.  Connecting the 52% of the world’s population that is not yet online must be the first priority, through a mix of fast reliable network coverage, ensuring affordability, and developing both local content and digital literacy.  Digital lives are not, however, founded on technology alone. We need privacy, security and standards in the current 4G age, let alone as we move towards 5G and a world of immersive communication, VR, augmented reality and increasingly blurred line between the physical and the digital worlds.

Standards for 5G are important to ensure connectivity remains fluid and flexible in the new era of 5G networks, adapting to different applications and performances.  Ensuring international alignment on standards will involve governments and regulators working in close collaboration – and accelerating 5G will also mean agreeing on spectrum, creating a supportive investment environment and encouraging government to lead by example through digital services.

Broadly in agreement on the need for global 5G standards to support growth, Jan Färih, Vice President and Head of Standardization and Industry, Telefon AB – LM Ericsson, pointed out the need for systems and networks that perform well and meet the expectations of end users – as well as affordable, attractive devices, and compelling services and apps.

But the real technological challenge of 5G is second-guessing the future and building networks that can cope with a huge range of use cases, many of which are as yet unknown, ranging from massive sensor deployment to robotic steering and ultra-reliable communications. “We had to define a network that was flexible as we don’t really know which use cases will come up in the next ten years… it is key to take care of flexibility, in parallel to standards,” he said, emphasizing the extent to which 5G success will depend on flexible, multi-functional, systems and services offering high performance and adaptability to new industries and their requirements.

Infrastructure sharing improves the efficiency and effectiveness of mobile networks – and significantly reduces the cost of deployment, explained Wu Ma, General Manager, Operation and Development Department, China Tower Corporation. Improving reach and network coverage will be increasingly important as operators move from 4G to 5G, taking with them user expectations of speed, data volume, quality of service and mobility.

By sharing an infrastructure platform, the three leading Chinese mobile operators behind China Tower have freed up resources and operating costs to focus instead on handsets, services and markets. This approach works very well in the current 4G era, but will need to be extended to meet the needs of 5G: “We will try to look at other opportunities to reduce cost, such as street lamp posts across cities and small towers in urban areas to increase efficiency”, he explained, repeating the need to meet subscriber expectations in terms of experience and performance.

Soriano shared his understanding of 5G as “a protea form technology that can deliver a different class of services for different use cases and business cases”

Questions on investment and regulation were raised by the audience: where should the funding for the massive amounts of investment in next-generation networks come from, in an era of historically low ARPU?

For Andy Hudson, 5G is no different from any other infrastructure, in that investment will come as ever from mobile operators and government in one form or another, ideally within the framework of a supportive policy and regulatory environment. Wa pointed out the difficult balancing act telcos face between investing in the near future of 4G infrastructure and services whilst also planning for longer-term, cost-intensive 5G networks. Given the need for greater coverage and reduced distance between cells, much greater volumes of investment will be needed. New business models offering a great ROI should be explored, perhaps alongside innovations in subscriber management and applications billing. “The infrastructure needs to be ready for the business model, but we also need time and opportunity to explore 5G and look elsewhere in the world,” he said.

Soriano saw the need to be open to innovative ways of thinking on infrastructure, such as holders operating 5G services themselves. Telco investors have long had a very specific investment cycle to enable operators to keep growing, and with each technology advancement, revenue has decreased. It is ultimately down to the telcos to work out how to make money from 5G, rather than an issue for public bodies.

The regulatory challenges posed by 5G are as complex and unpredictable as the network itself. The beauty of 5G, its ability to slice the network and discriminate traffic, means different service providers can offer services tailored to specific customer use cases.  Soriano was clear that the end user must be free to choose the best services and applications – meaning the delicate question of net neutrality will be back on the table, with regulators adopting a case-by-case approach. Issues of transparency, quality of service, spectrum licensing and data protection will also fall to the regulator as 5G develops, as well as “rewarding innovation so that companies will take the initiative to build about infrastructure”, said Donna Murphy.

The complexity of regulating something as complex as 5G will make for a fascinating challenge, the panel agreed – and as for who should actually be responsible, well, that’s a topic for next time!

What does it take to found a successful startup and take it to the next stage? And what are they key challenges that have to be overcome on the journey? Some great lessons for startups were shared today at the Founders panel: From Startup to Scaleup, with viewpoints from across the world, expertly moderated by Stephen Ibaraki, Founding Chair, Global Industry Council & Vice-chair, IP3 Board, International Federation for Information Processing, Canada.

Challenges

For Aibek Amandanov, Global Marketing Manager of Republic of Korea’s ulalaLAB- a finalist in the 2016 ITU Telecom World Awards, a key challenge- aside from finances- was convincing manufacturers to implement a new technology, but one that could optimize creativity. “Dealing with governments can pose a challenge to start-ups in a host of areas from navigating through licensing institutions to obtaining data. “The government doesn’t have any data on Indonesian SMEs,” explained Kiki Rizki, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Indonesia’s Nurbaya Initiative. Without this data they have no way to reach their potential target market of Indonesian SMEs- we practically have to go door to door to find them, she explained.

Advice for early stage founders

Be open to change when its required, said Reg Orton, Co-founder & CTO of Kenya’s BRCK, winner of 2016 ITU Telecom World Awards, cautioning that it can be too easy to change too much or too often. There is a fine line to be trod between switching direction every 6 months (too frequently) and sticking with the exact same direction throughout, he explained. Educate the market, be that on the importance of connectivity or the Internet and what it can offer them, said Rizki. Expecting SMEs to manage complex digital marketing or an online store takes more than 1 day.

Many ideas can fail without a good co-founder, as a co-founder can bring with them a complementary skillset and experience, ideally even experience from a different culture.  But make sure they have the same mindset, explained Tilman Süss, Managing Director, Berliner Strategen, Germany. Also, remember you can’t do everything- if there is a particular skill you lack, say, accounting there maybe people who are expert in this field and can do this better than you, so it can be a good idea to give some areas up.

Best support for startups

Startups need to be sure the public understand them. Often the public, or even large corporates, think they get startups but they don’t, as they just don’t have enough experience of them and the climate they operate in. Süss commended ITU for its work with startups, including through the ITU Telecom World Award – which will announce its winners on 28 September – to help integrate them into the ICT ecosystem.

Governments can provide key support to startups, helping establish a business friendly environment, establishing accelerator programmes, helping secure investment as well as helping startups manage risk, working with them in a way that enables them to scale up. Governments need to find a path for startups, not just go with the incumbents, according to Orton. The Indonesian government is giving a whole lot of exposure to its startups, according to Rizki- indeed, a number of them can be seen in the Indonesia Pavilion here at ITU Telecom World 2017.

Raising capital & getting ahead

The road to raising capital can sometimes be a difficult journey for startups. Start early, and be brave, said Amandanov. Meet with investors and make sure you research who you are meeting with. Be realistic, cautioned Rizki, don’t set yourself impossible numbers to hit.  Finding an investor within your niche can be tricky, Orton explained that it was easy to find either tech investors or investors interested in Africa but trickier to find one that covers both areas, as well as being an investor you can scale with.

Finding an extra pair of hands can help extend your reach explained Rizki, who worked in conjunction with the Indonesian postal service to get their message out and help get large numbers of underserved SMEs online in just one day.

Conclusions

The panel summed up with some key thoughts to ponder; be realistic but don’t sell yourself short. Don’t do something if you don’t love it – if it’s something you love, it will come across in pitches, said Süss. Take a risk, urged Amandanov. You only live once and when you take a risk the result will be more satisfying. Know where you are going, said Orton, but don’t be afraid to change how you get there. “If you want to succeed, keep pushing yourself beyond your capabilities, you can achieve amazing things.” Concluded Ibaraki.

Welcome Benin, Brazil, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mozambique, Philippines and Sierra Leone to ITU Telecom World 2017!  Joining the event for governments, corporates and SMEs for the first time, these countries shared their leading telcos, SME innovations, strategies, policies and opportunities on the showfloor and throughout the event.

Brazil and Benin showcased SME innovations including agricultural IoT devices, parcel delivery and a digital healthcare system based on a teleradiology platform. Ethiopia highlighted the work of leading telco, ethio telecom, as well as opportunities for investment and partnership in a number of areas.

Indonesia presented their successful experience in fostering the incubation and development of various Digital Economy business models, as well as focusing on their MSMEs working in areas as diverse as B2C and B2B payment systems, SME online market places, agricultural and aquaculture online platforms. Minister of Communication and Informatics, H.E Mr Rudiantara, hosted a press conference to highlight initiatives to cover the country’s wealth distribution disparity – a message echoed in his Opening Ceremony address.

Visitors to the Philippines pavilion were invited to join the “digital gateway to the future,” and enjoy a vibrant display exploring the work of the country’s two leading telcos, Globe Telecom and PLDT Global, providers of a full portfolio of telco, ICT and digital services in the Phillippines and beyond.

The Mozambique pavilion outlined the work of its regulator, the National Communications Institute of Mozambique (INCM), its mission, vision and current areas of work including the country’s digital migration. Sierra Leone highlighted the work of its Ministry of Information and Communications, in areas such as policy and strategy development, developing regulatory frameworks, promoting ICT literacy and ICT research and cybersecurity. Visitors could also read more on the ECOWAN fibre backbone project and the work of regulator NATCOM.

We on the panel are all here to make life better for customers, residents and citizens, commented Keng Thai Leong, Deputy Chief Executive of Singapore’s InfoComm Media Development Authority, in his opening remarks as session co-host. “The growing power and falling costs of computing makes for much faster and richer data analysis,” he said, meaning AI can be put to good use around the world in analyzing the ever-increasing wealth of sensor data, identifying and treating disease, enhancing public safety or improving city services.

For a small, resource-poor city-state such as Singapore, he added, the benefits of AI and other technologies are particularly important in overcoming restraints, addressing pressing needs and planning for the future. A future, which in Singapore will feature shared personalized transport in the form of driverless taxis, personalized health care, and enhanced finance and city management services.

Asked by moderator Jean-Manuel Canet, Senior Manager at Orange Consulting, to provide an optimal model of a smart city and how AI can contribute to it, the panelists were in agreement on a basic definition: smart cities are based on using intelligence from data analysis to improve city living with limited resources and low investment.

For Chi Hyung Lee, President of the Seoul Digital Foundation, the key to becoming a smart city is simply: connect everything in a city – people, spaces and things – and collect the data in one platform. Big data and AI are the tools that enable the enormous amounts of data generated in this way to be analyzed effectively and insightfully. As cities become more and more data-driven, AI will be become increasingly important in providing solutions to everything from transportation to construction, public services and government initiatives.

Winnie Tang, Founder and Honorary President of Smart City Consortium, agreed that smart cities, by their very nature, are driven by government, but that collaboration with the private sector, with academia and with other smart cities around the world is essential. Full interconnectivity, autonomous cars, smart traffic and parking, are part of “the grand vision to save energy, save time, and save lives.”

A vision of a slightly different nature was outlined by Idonae Lovetrue, Founder and CEO of Demiurge Technologies, who saw the key innovation of AI in smart cities as establishing and understanding causal relationships thrown up by data, rather than the current big data-driven models based on superficial understanding or correlations. “People are the biggest asset of a city. We should look at what AI can do to service humans and unleash our human capacity, our creativity potential,” she said. AI should be in every physical hub and infrastructure, doing the work that machines do best, releasing us from mundane tasks such housework, enabling us to “let our human brains shine” –  doing what we are most suited to, using our new-found time and freedom to flourish creatively and live longer and healthier lives.

Allan Phua, Director of the InfoComm Media Development Authority’s Data Innovation Programme Office, echoed this excitement at the power of AI to allow us to collate and understand human behaviour more accurately than ever before, sharing and unlocking potential through analytics across a range of services and activities – including thwarting terrorism and security threats, or processing language to understand key trends in public discourse and better structure public services.

“AI is not solution to all problems; it is not a panacea or magic technology,” he said. “It has to augment human behaviour and effort, making what we do better.” The best approach is to combine technology with other processes and disciplines such as design or psychology, rather than working with AI in a silo.

Deciding what technology to deploy in smart cities is the wrong way to go about things, agreed the panel. The starting point is always the problem itself, be it traffic congestion, public health or urban redevelopment. AI is one of a range of technologies, used for specific problem-solving rather than for its own sake.

And AI is not just about public service problems, or about the government providing answers. It is important for industry to be involved, “to co-develop solutions and solve real problems so that technology is relevant to people, “ he concluded.

AI and the development of smart cities can certainly create a better quality of life, but it needs to be balanced with ensuring the privacy of our data, said Tang.  It is important that citizens are educated on the benefits of smart cities and encouraged to engage; but there needs to be awareness of what data is involved, and perhaps regulation to protect the end user. “Technology and analytics will improve security,” but ultimately, there’s no way to use AI without compromising security.

There are no internationally recognised KPIs for a smart city, no straightforward definition or standard concept of what makes a city smart.  Openness of data and availability of APIs are a basic criteria; but all users also need to be comfortable with the use of technology by government and each other.

Different cities proceed at different paces, using technology to solve specific, and different problems. There is no end to the problems that AI can solve in a city, and many ways in which technology can be applied to provide a solution. But two core elements of AI in smart cities emerged from the discussion: the need for a human-centric approach and multi-stakeholder cooperation. And above all, we must work to avoid the danger of an AI digital divide, a divide of international talent and a new smart city divide.