Author: Digital World

ITU Virtual Digital World 2020 was officially launched with the push of a button, during a vibrant opening ceremony webcast live via the event website. The ceremony took place in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister of Viet Nam, Vu Duc Nam, Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Information and Communications, Viet Nam and included a special video message from Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union.

A distinguished audience at the ceremony comprised Ministers, representatives of diplomatic missions, media and other invited guests.  They were able to get a preview of the virtual exhibition, which comprises companies and countries from around the world, including some 3D stands. The ceremony introduced some key themes of the event including the unprecented challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of digital technologies during and after this pandemic, 5G and the digital transformation in Viet Nam. It also highlighted the ITU Digital World name, chosen to underscore the importance of digital technologies in today’s telecoms and ICT ecosystem.

How can governments, regulators, companies and civil society re-appropriate technology for society, rather than letting it run wild with undesirable effects? How can we overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed by the pace of change in technology and powerless to respond – a backlash against technology, or “techlash”?

This was the question posed by moderator Philippe Defraigne, Founding Director, Cullen International to a panel of experts from across the regulatory spectrum. International cooperation is ever more important, according to Danielle Jacobs, CEO, Beltug and founding member euro.digital (representing business ICT users), as most companies, whether large or small, work cross border and face the challenge of digital ubiquity. Regulations do not just come from differing national telecommunications authorities, but also from verticals such as health and banking; citizen approval is also often needed; the complexity means making decisions compliant with all laws and regulations is not easy.

Trust in digital media is critical, said Esteban Redolfi, Director of Digital Future Society, Mobile World Capital, as there is no recourse to the inappropriate use of personal information provided to industry or the state. “As an individual, I have no clear way of defining my rights in front of a government agency or a big corporate,” he said. It is difficult to juggle the new roles and responsibilities of government, the ICT industry, society and individuals in the digital society – and even in more developed societies such as Europe or the US, citizens are way behind in terms of digital skills. Cooperation and debate should take place not just in UN or intergovernmental events, but also in schools, families and amongst ourselves, so we can come together from different backgrounds, discuss and find common ground to build trust.

Director of Consumer Policy at GSMA, Jade Nester focused on the importance of ensuring customer privacy and establishing responsible data practices across the ecosystem to establish trust. Smart privacy laws need to balance data protection against enabling innovation. But “developing guidelines, principles and legal frameworks is not enough to get people to understand how their data is used.” The solutions to mobile privacy are not clear-cut and the digital economy can be very complicated – but we need to break down what is happening, to understand and better manage it, because “powerlessness leads to fear, and this is not a good scenario for people and government.”

Sophie Maddens, Head, Regulatory and Market Environment Division, ITU urged a balance: there is a natural fear around the new and unknown, but we must not forget the goldmine of wonderful possibilities opened up by connectivity, the potential for inclusive education, health, financial services, better lives. The industry has evolved from a public service to a liberalized, competitive private sector, with the regulatory role adapting to each stage. Now we are in a new era of collaborative regulation, where we can see how ICTs can be leveraged to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals on a previously unimaginable scale, but where the regulatory challenges are also new and complex. Data research and analysis, peer exchange on practices and ideas, publishing and sharing knowledge – collaboration at this level will reduce the fear of the unknown and help regulators build institutional capacity and knowledge.

“Connectivity is an arms race at the moment,” said Jason Harle, Assistant Manager, Deloitte in terms of getting product out that is always on, always available, smart and on demand. Perhaps we should back to the consumer base, to see what we actually need to improve lives, finding out the value of new propositions rather than adopting a top-down regulatory approach. Engaging with the industry, public bodies and consumer groups will enable the regulatory landscape to be defined upfront, rather than leaving regulators playing catch up.

Echoing his fellow panelists, Marcin Cichy, President, Office of Electronic Communications, Poland urged knowledge and transparency to build trust and counteract fear. The value-added chain is complex and difficult for regulators to penetrate, understand, investigate and impose obligations.  In the past, regulating the pipe was easy; but now it is impossible to regulate what is going on inside, the huge variety of content and complicated devices. Synergy between different vertical sectors and telecoms makes for an additional layer of complexity, as do privacy initatives and cybersecurity authories, which often combine military and technology bodies. Add in the regional and international regulatory regimes and “It’s a bit of a mess,” he admitted.  

The soup of regulatory regimes, rules, and industries is complicated by growing end user awareness of privacy and data protection, multiple stakeholders and competition between systems. There are horizontal global laws, and vertical laws in each sector. It is not easy to know with which regulator or regulations a business should comply in any give instance – or if, indeed, there is any relevant regulation. Overlaps and gaps characterize the system.

And those overlaps often lead to turf wars between competing authorities, a lack of understanding and awareness that can only be resolved through a collaborative approach – and an investment in increasing human capacity.

We need dialogue between regulators, the public sector, the private sector, tech and legal experts, said Esteban Redofi, Director of Digital Future Society, Mobile World Capital. Only by talking to each other can we become aware of the consequences of technology in the round – and work to resolve those issues of trust with the potential to cripple innovation and development by providing legal clarity and certainty for business and consumers alike.

Emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, 5G, renewable energy and big data have a critical role to play in raising awareness of climate issues – and mitigating the impact of climate change. But the real source of optimism in the fight for sustainability is not the technology alone, according to this panel of experts from industry and international organizations. It is the combination of technology with the skill, awareness and passionate environmentalism of the young people of the world.

Frontier technologies can help enormously in mitigating climate change across all sectors from health to transport, education and manufacturing, explained Orange’s Philippe Tuzzolino, Vice President, Environment, but “we have to be exemplary ourselves”, reducing carbon footprint in the ICT industry itself by ensuring that products and services are produced with lower emissions. The company has committed to net zero emissions by 2050, an ambitious target it hopes to reach through putting innovation into its factories, networks and data centres, including cooling systems, monitoring systems and shared transport and mobility solutions.

Orange is also working to fight climate change through its biodiversity monitoring in Mont Blanc and other mountains around the world, in partnership with academia, NGOs and the general public. Accurate and actionable data make it easier to make environmentally conscious decisions and reduce carbon emissions.

Until now, big data and AI have all too often been limited to buzz words, creating excitement and interest, but little action, according to Joel Alexander Mills, Chief Executive Officer, Augment City AS. It’s important to start changing the interfaces in tech and design, moving away from text to the visual, to a technology that works better for humans – allowing the differing skills of humans and machines to complement each other. “Take data, analyze at a high level to help decision making and make those decisions transparent,” he urged, so people can understand how and why decisions have been made. The holistic use of big data analysis can solve policy issues here and now, not in the distant future – such as halving the traffic flow through a city by mapping the pain points of peak flow against factors such as weather, school opening hours or tourism.

Mills expanded on the possibilities of digital twinning and digital simulation as a two-step process using technology to understand data. “Humans are very good at making decisions based on facts, but not good at making decisions based on intuition. Technology allows us to understand facts and make it as transparent as possible.” Using data to create a digital twin of a smart city involves a top down approach, overlaying a geographical map of the city with data from multiple sources to provide a complete overview.

Once we can see what is happening, we can make choices and changes to combat climate change based on transparent, visible and understandable data. Sometimes low-hanging fruit – small changes requiring relatively few resources – can have a major impact on quality of life and climate change mitigation, such as the Norwegian city dramatically reducing emissions and poor air flow by providing cruise ships in its harbor, with renewable energy.

The second stage is simulation, not just benchmarking data but using the tools of machine learning and AI to allow for proactive initiatives, solving problems before they reach a crisis point. This can have a dramatic effect on climate change by reducing emissions and managing peak flows of water, electricity, traffic and people. “We can use technology to simulate the future and make decisions before issues arise,” continued Mills. “It is an incredibly exciting time as technologies are developing so fast we can’t keep control, and we also have a population, especially the young, who are so keen to make a difference. We have much on our side, but we must push forward together.”

Greener energy sources are key, stressed Mohammed Traoré, Digital and Innovation Advisor, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, and the move from centralized power plants to decentralized smart city solutions and local smart grids is increasingly important. New technology in renewable energies and storage are key in the easing the complexity in managing sustainable smart cities.  AI, blockchain, IoT and virtual reality can find real use cases in the energy field and have a real impact on climate mitigation – but connectivity is the foundation of any new sustainable initiatives, locally or globally, in developed and developing markets.

Connectivity is also critical to tackling the effects of climate change, as Faizal DjoemadiChief of Digital & Innovation Officer, PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia pointed out. Indonesia is particularly susceptible to natural disasters, given its topography and position on the ring of fire. As changes in the climate cause mountain snow to melt and forest fires to burn, technology is essential to monitor, warn and mitigate. A partnership platform with startups is focused on creating solutions to protect from disasters, leveraging the power of IoT, data centres and cloud services to outsource innovation, building capacity, skills and awareness.

“The role of technology in climate change is fundamental and undeniable,” said Salem Avan, Director, Policy, Governance, and Strategy Division, United Nations Office of Information and Communication Technology. Technology in the widest sense has a role in enabling us to be more effective, efficient and climate-responsible all that we do. It is also important to use tech not just to solve problems, but to advocate, connect and engage, especially with young people.  We are at a climate inflection point now where we are concerned about what will happen and trying to reduce emissions, but the issue is “whether we can be smart enough fast enough.”  

Huawei’s Paolo Gemma, also Chairman, ITU-T Study Group 5 Working Party 2, ITU focused on the need for partnerships working to develop strategies to reduce waste energy and improve efficiency through technology. Knowledge, expertise and best practices in sustainability should be shared to enable developing markets to benefit from the mistakes of early adopters. In developing countries in particular, solar solutions for power stations can reduce carbon emissions, and a hybrid approach using energy from the grid at night and green solar power during the day could have a major positive impact.

Avan added that climate change will have an increasing impact on social and political security, as we see more and more changes in the physical world resulting in migration, displacement and increased poverty. Up to 80% of those affected by climate disruptions will be women and the vulnerable, with the potential to profoundly alter the fabric of society. We need to engage technology to work on these challenges, increasing inclusiveness, changing behaviour, and catalyzing humanity. Of all the emerging technologies, AI is fundamental – not in and of itself, but in what it may open up for us in these difficult times.

Ghana’s Minster for Communications, Ursual Owusu-Ekuful, welcomed a busy group of dignitaries and visitors to the Ghana Pavilion for the On Digital Spotlight today.  She spoke about the important links between Ghana, Africa and the world and said that Ghana’s success is built on digital infrastructure, skills and connectivity.  She invited the world to take a closer look at Ghana.  ITU Secretary General, Houlin Zhao congratulated the Minister for her support and input into many ITU events and said that Minister Owusu-Ekuful was the African Minister he had met most often this year.  He said that the Minister’s mission to raise the voice of Africa should be applauded.  Following impressive presentations from Ghana SMEs, a Ghana video captivated the audience as they learned about the country’s digital achievements across education, healthcare and connectivity. ​

Continuing their busy programme of activities, the EQUALS delegation today enjoyed a full day of masterclasses and workshops as part of the SME programme of ITU Telecom World.  Topics from Impostor Syndrome, How to Access to Finance, Impact investment and Intellectual property were the core of the programme during the day.  In addition, a mentoring session was offered to the delegates with the participation of Belinda Exelby, Head of International Relations, GSMA; Juan Hoyos, Capacity Building Expert, ITC; Enrique Alvarado, Fund Manager, Bamboo Capital Partners; Carla Walker, Investment Manager, Bamboo BLOC.

The mentoring session was closed with remarks from BDT-Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin and the Secretary-General Houlin Zhao, who confirmed the commitment of ITU towards gender equality in ICT.

As the presence – and influence – of AI systems continues to grow throughout society, how can we ensure that we do not increase digital gender inequality? Can we design with diversity, and can we remove bias.

These were the questions explored by diverse expert panel and engaged audience moderated by Tim Unwin, Emeritus Professor of Geography and Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D Royal Holloway, University of London. And the first surprising answer was that many in the room were not initially aware that gender bias in AI existed.

Realizing the extent of the issue for the first time, despite AI’s increasing ubiquity across all sectors and countries, Allana Abdullah, CEO, Bahaso cited the example of Japan, where robots are replacing in women in many jobs, from secretaries to sex workers. Her own team at Bahaso may be diverse, but its ICT team only included one woman out of thirty. Not because women are not capable, but because they did not apply – perhaps, Unwin suggested, because job adverts are off putting and gendered in language, shaping and imagery.

Mastercard Chief Privacy Officer, Caroline Louveaux explained how the company had invested heavily in AI to secure its trusted status by modelling and depicting scenarios, but was very aware of its responsibilities in ensuring AI was used for the good. “We need to make sure our AI tools don’t discriminate on any basis, gender, race, religion and so on, to ensure fairness of decisions,” she said, noting that discrimination of this nature could deprive people of key benefits, lines of credit and access to the online economy.

Responding to the pervasive gendering of voice assistant and AI conversation playing on the traditional trope of females in a service role, Coral Manton, Researcher and Developer, Women reclaiming AI spoke of the need to provide different voices and personalities. Even if women themselves often feel more comfortable with other women in caring or service roles, there is no need to continue to add to the system, to add more bias – we can change.

Women need to feel more comfortable with AI, she continued, pointing out that depictions and images of AI are often “blue, masculine, mythical, godlike,” creating a barrier to participation. Transparent, cooperative and collaborative teams are the way forward.

One step on that journey to transparency is developing AI governance models from the top and ensuring the right policies and frameworks are in place, said Louveaux. The process of ethics by design and AI impact assessment focuses on avoiding discrimination and doing no harm – but it

“Within digital transformation, we recognize that emerging tech should be an equalizer not differentiating even more,” said Martin Koyabe, Head of Technical Support and Consultancy, CTO. It is the data fuelling AI that brings the bias, so empowering women throughout the tech industry, and specifically within the AI sector, can ensure that bias in data is reduced or eliminated.

Abdullah agreed that, “Behind AI are the people working on it, so from the bottom up we have to start with women in research and strategy, implementing and building it, and being CTOs.”  Women have to be present and represented throughout the process, not just at the top, to bring equality.

Education has a central role to play, agreed all the panelists, bringing girls and women into tech from a young age, showing what AI is in detail and in concrete applications, not just the concepts of machine learning. Women need to really inhabit positions in tech, providing role models for others to see and admire. Capacity building is key to making a difference – both reaching out to, training and recruiting women, and building awareness of AI’s capabilities for both good and bad.

Transparency and accountability for the data behind AI are critical to reducing bias, but very difficult to govern or enforce. There is a lengthy inventory of different biases which can be identified, documented and used to define parameters, clean data and make sure models function.

AI reflects society, argued Manton, so how can we mitigate bad things happening in society? AI will provide many solutions, but we must avoid seeing it as godlike, as unquestionable.  “Technology is seen as truth, and AI even more so. Whenever we build a data asset, we have to interrogate, to look very critically, to have transparency.”

Abdullah called for the ITU to take the initiative in promoting AI technology and awareness equally throughout the world, preventing the abuse of gender bias and inequality, and promoting AI for good on a massive scale.

Governments need to take the initiative in discussing AI issues, stressed Koyabe, putting in AI frameworks relevant to the specific local context. It should be on the national agenda, irrespective of the differing stages of AI deployment in different countries, and should be brought to the level of international bodies such as ITU to provide more traction in the decision-making process

 “If we want AI to deliver its true promise and mitigate for gender equality, no one can do it alone,” said Louveaux, “There is no magic solution – we have to learn from each other, share practices and think together about how to develop the environment and mitigate for bias and gender equality.”

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ITU, in partnership with Cisco, today launched the Digital Transformation Centers Initiative to equip people with the skills needed to effectively participate in today’s digital society and economy.

Through this initiative, launched today at ITU Telecom World, ITU and Cisco will work with a network of institutions to run digital skills training programmes in specific tech areas.

Providing digital skills training is key to bridging the digital divide. Digital skills are needed at all levels: at the basic level, to help people connect and benefit from Internet services and applications; at the intermediate level, to help students and job seekers get the necessary skills required by the digital economy; and at the advanced level to increase the pool of ICT experts and meet the demands of the industry.

This initiative targets people who need basic digital skills to use digital tools and access e-services and those who seek to enhance their basic and intermediate skills. It also targets entrepreneurs who wish to develop their businesses and it assists policy-makers in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes related to digital skills, with the overall objective of enabling a successful national digital transformation process.

The initiative will rely on a multistakeholder partnership for its success.

“We are proud to partner with Cisco to enhance digital literacy,” says ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “We call on governments, the private sector, development agencies, local communities and other stakeholders to help us advance this initiative. Join us to boost digital skills to facilitate the digital transformation journey and accelerate the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”

The Digital Transformation Centers Initiative builds on the existing collaboration between the two organizations.

“We are excited to partner with ITU on the Digital Transformation Center Initiative which will leverage the Cisco Networking Academy to prepare individuals with skills in technology as well as in entrepreneurial areas where project-based learning and design thinking are critical,” says Laura Quintana, Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Networking Academy. “Cisco’s objective is to help countries transform digitally and accelerate economic growth, and the collaboration between Cisco and ITU will be key to providing the needed human capital to support that transformation.”

To kick-start the initiative, ITU and Cisco will identify 10 Digital Transformation Centers to participate in the first phase, which will run for 18 months starting in January 2020. The Centers selected will be located in the Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions.

“Today half the world is online, but raw connectivity alone will not solve development challenges,” says Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau. “Research shows that lack of digital knowledge and skills has emerged as a major barrier to Internet uptake, digital inclusion and digital transformation, especially in developing countries. The Digital Transformation Centers Initiative is designed to strengthen the effectiveness of current activities in the field of capacity development by providing training programmes to meet and address local needs, and address technology trends, developments and gaps. It is also a step forward to help our membership implement their regional initiatives in this field.”

The Digital Transformation Centers Initiative will complement the ILO-ITU Digital Skills for Jobs Campaign, which is part of the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth, and will directly contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. It will also complement the existing work of the ITU Centres of Excellence network, which provides training to ICT professionals as well as the existing ITU efforts in enabling digital transformation and national and regional levels.

Click here for more information on the Digital Transformation Centers.​

Internet Generation Day today consisted of a series of dynamic programmes organized mostly for university students. At the central Agora stage, renowned professors gave lectures on state of the art technologies. Professor Peter Baranyi introduced the MaxWhere 3D platform with features for education, management, and industry uses, followed by Dr. Ferenc Leitold talking about the importance of continuous IT security management. Péter Antal gave a lecture on federal learning, a new machine learning paradigm, its mathematical foundations and the challenges it faces in the practical applications. Csaba Simon introduced the idea of using 5G networks for various industrial use cases, giving the example of a 5G system built at the Budapest InfoPark Campus site from commercial 5G components and testing various applications. Imre Felde explained in his presentation how cellular networks can be used to get information about people’s mobility patterns, the results of which can be used for improving the understanding of human mobility urban environments. Sándor Imre presented the results of research in the Budapest University of Technology and Economics about quantum mechanics-based sensors, computers and communications. Finally, the National Media and Infocommunications Authority presented the results of the Media Awareness Workshop.

In the Innovation space sessions the first panel discussion had participants debate about emerging climate disaster technologies. Moderated by Cecília Varsányi, Head of Sustainable Development Department at AJKC, the participants agreed that extreme weather events are becoming more common, and technology needs to be deployed not just trying to prevent these from happening but to have the ability to react on time and with maximum efficiency. The next workshop held by Melinda Havas highlighted how the level of financial literacy is very low among the younger generations, and raised the questions of how these new consumers should then be approached with financial services. Dr. Tamás Klein from the Károli Gáspár University gave a presentation about the pressing issues of A.I. regulation, also touching on the worldwide phenomenon of fake news and its free speech implications. Dániel Bozsoki finished the morning session with a speaking about the importance of digital skills and how ICT startup incubation can improve upon that. In the afternoon two presentations, by Dr. habil Bertalan Komenczi and Fruzsina Kollányi touched on educational topics: the first one showcasing how digital learning environments promote personal learning networks and give rise to a new kind of pedagogical culture, while the second one was a rather open discussion session about teaching coding to the young generations.

Two workshops accompanied the presentation venues in Internet Generation Day, the Media awareness workshop and the Innovation space workshop. In the former, students between 9-16 could practice their skills of media production by creating and editing online video ads and magazine samples in small groups. In the Innovation space workshops participants could get to know coding, starting from a completely beginner level.

The A.I. exhibition organized by the Hungarian AI Coalition featured the stands of several companies from the field of artificial intelligence development. The Space event in room 5 started with an introduction on the space activities of the V4 Countries involving regional experts such as Orsolya Ferencz, Marek Cichy, Dr. Iveta Rusinová, Michal Reinöhl and Diána Daczi. This was followed by a poster session with topics of space broadcasting, telecommunication and space communication prepared by students. Finally at noon a panel discussion about risks in the IT sector took place in the Space event room.

The Internet generation forum launched with opening speeches from dignitaries such as Károly Solymár, Ervin Kajzinger and Agnieszka Gładysz. The forum continued with two panel discussions where participants debated about the future of internet in the Central European region and the implications of A.I. In the afternoon finals of the IGF student competition were presented to the audience.

A host of life-changing innovations were highlighted at the lively Awards Ceremony, which marked the close of four busy days of showcasing, networking and debates at ITU Telecom World 2019. Award winning innovations from SMEs, governments and major corporates came from areas as diverse as online education, 5G airships and drones, green 5G, digital addressing, transforming digital heat from datacentres, nanosatellites and enabling barrier free emergency calls.

Winners and finalists in several categories were presented with trophies and certificates by ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao in the presence of government ministers, industry leaders, representatives of media and other high-level delegates from across the globe. The Global SME Excellence winner was announced following action-packed live pitching from finalists in the Awards Ceremony itself.

“ITU is delighted to announce the Award winners here in Budapest, where the Awards, along with other international services to SMEs, were first launched at ITU Telecom World 2015,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “Since then, we have watched this platform grow, support and promote examples of tech for good. This week we have showcased and explored the products and solutions that can change lives and make connectivity truly meaningful. With our ITU Telecom World Award winners, we now recognize another fresh crop of innovators, who I hope will now go forth and take their business onto the global stage.”

The Awards comprised:

• Global SME Awards: recognizing the best innovative ICT-based solutions with social impact from SMEs present at the event in five classes – Best business model; Most innovative use of ICT; Greatest social impact and Most scalable solution. The Global SME Excellence Award was awarded to the SME with the highest all-around score.
• Global Industry Awards: for the most promising innovative solutions with social impact in the areas of digital inclusion and principles, meaningful connectivity. solutions and sustainable impact, as selected by a specially-convened expert jury
• Government Award: awarded to the National Pavilion with the most promising innovative SMEs.
• Host Country Awards: recognized the best and most innovative SME or solutions at the event from Hungary, the event host. 

All SMEs in these categories underwent a rigorous application and selection process, with an external jury of social entrepreneurship and tech experts assessing each entrant on the basis of business model, scalability, innovation and social impact. Those shortlisted for the Global SME Awards were invited to take part in a quick-fire pitching sessions in front of an expert jury, during the event, as well as benefit from an SME Programme of workshops, capacity building, pitching sessions, SME-focused Forum sessions.

Also among the SME pitchers, joining an ITU Telecom World Event for the first time, were the EQUALS Fellowship winners, 24 talented female entrepreneurs from developing countries around the world who exhibited on the showfloor, pitched their innovative solutions and took part in the SME Programme.

Award winners

Global SME Excellence Award  

• Winner – Immersion4, Switzerland

Best Business Model

• ​Winner – Vokacom, Ghana

Most innovative use of ICTs 

• ​Winner – Immersion4, Switzerland

Greatest social impact 

• ​Winner – UX Information Technologies, Mozambique

Most scalable solution

• ​​Winner – Prime Molecular Technologies Africa, South Africa

ITU Telecom World Industry Awards Winners and projects

• ​Digital Inclusion & Principles: Ruangguru App, the largest tech-enabled education provider in Southeast Asia, providing a better, accessible and more affordable alternative to quality learning for students and teachers.
• Meaningful Connectivity Solutions: KT 5G Skyship, a disaster safety specialized platform integrated with the world’s first 5G, unmanned airship and drone technology.
• Sustainable Impact: Huawei, Green 5G Power to boost climate action. The project innovates technologies that reduce energy consumption by up to 20%.

ITU Telecom World Government Award 

• Winner – Mozambique

ITU Telecom World Host Country Awards 

• ​Winner – Tresorit, Hungary

For the full list of winners and finalists click here

Upskilling, lifelong learning, the role of the education system, and educating users to understand the importance of technology and what it can do for them, were some of the areas explored at today’s lively panel discussion.

For Lidia Stepinska-ustasiak, Head of Social and Corporate Policy Unit, Office of Electronic Communications, Poland, a key area of focus is upskilling, the progression made by individuals based on skills they have acquired while doing their job. She sees the role of upskilling becoming increasingly significant going forward.

 “We need to make sure that people understand that upskilling is now part of their job,” explained Ghaida Alanazi, Digital Education Lead, National Digital Transformation Unit. People need twenty first century competences she explained, and to be able analyse issues from a host of different perspectives. As well as learning the right skills, graduates need the right mindset, so that they approach the workforce ready for a challenging job where they will need to deploy many different skillsets, not just look for an exact fit to what they have studied.

As well as the right mindset, graduates need to have studied in the relevant areas.  Panelists agreed that the education system must equip students with the right skills for the workplace of the future. This could be a question of employers feeding back their needs into the education system, according to moderator Susan Teltscher, Head, Human Capacity Building Division, BDT, ITU.  The industry needs to communicate so universities equip graduates with the skills they want and need for jobs, explained Hakima Chaouchi, Research Professor, Institut Mines-Télécom, France.

Alanazi explained that Saudi Arabia has a digital transition strategy, involving all stakeholders from government to education institutions and the private sector, to work together on the challenge digital skills. It is not just a matter of equipping students with skills, but also, for example, ensuring that people wishing to make mid-life career changes get access to the right skills to enable to them to make the transition. We want to make sure no one falls through the cracks, she explained.

Lifelong learning

This “lifelong learning”- the ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge for personal or professional reasons – is essential in keeping digital skills up to date and future proof. 30-50 year olds currently in the workplace will need to adapt to the fact that their job may be subject to change, according to Kristóf Bárdos, Co-founder, International Business Developer, GreenFox Academy, Hungary. Opportunities will be narrowed for them if they don’t educate themselves and if they don’t understand the language of technology. We need to ask ourselves what are those digital skills, soft skills that I can acquire?

The idea of lifelong learning process is great, said Chaouchi, but it could prove expensive for the industry. People need to understand what technology can do for them, not just in terms of adding to their skills but more broadly how it can make their lives easier, explained Teltscher.

Concluding thoughts

From a government, as well as an industry perspective, incentivising upskilling is important. For an end user “it makes sense to train myself, as my government and employer are incentivising,” explained Bárdos. Upskilling needs to be an ongoing process, and if you don’t do it for five or ten years it can become difficult to restart.

Education institutions need to be more aware of new digital tools to make learning fast and more targeted. Students, too, have their part to play – they must get used to the idea that they will have to adapt all their working life. Wrapping up, Sofia Fernandez de Mesa, Director of International Relations, Telefonica, and ProFuturo Foundation, reminded delegates of the need to measure the impact of the technologies, skills and competencies needed in future.