Event to include compelling discussions on how emerging technologies can use data to spur economic opportunities for developing countries
Leaders in the Information and Communications Technology sector from around the world are converging on the Medina Convention and Exhibition Centre in Hammamet, Tunisia, November 14, 2017 for the 15th ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium (WTIS-17).
Essentially, the event brings together ICT leaders from around the globe and serves as the main international forum for telecommunication and information society measurements worldwide. As a result, the forum sets compelling discussions on how emerging technologies can use data to spur economic opportunities for developing countries.
Organised annually by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations’ specialised agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), this year’s WTIS event is hosted by the Government of the Republic of Tunisia.
WTIS is designed to identify and share metrics that measure the economic and social impacts of ICTs in the “information society” – in which society has intensified its use of ICTs for economic, social, cultural and political transformation.
WTIS‐17 will feature a high-level panel bringing together ICT ministers, technology leaders, telecommunication regulators and national statisticians to discuss the formulation and implementation of public policies to foster a healthy investment environment, especially in developing countries.
During WTIS-2017, ITU will release its annual flagship statistics publication, the Measuring the Information Society Report 2017, which features the ICT Development Index (IDI), the global benchmarking tool that tracks countries’ progress in the development of their information societies. The IDI 2017 ranks 176 economies globally based on official, internationally comparable statistics.
Other sessions at WTIS-17 will focus on emerging topics such as: new metrics for broadband and cybersecurity, new data needs for the digital economy, ICT skills and e-waste, tracking the adoption of the Internet of Things, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, the use of big data for measuring the information society, and smart data for smart sustainable cities.
The work of the Expert Group on Telecommunication/ICT Indicators and the Expert Group on Household Indicators will be presented for adoption by WTIS‐17.
The event will close with a multi-stakeholder panel that will discuss how emerging technologies can be transformed into economic opportunities with better data.
Experts from the global statistical community, ICT analysts and ICT regulatory agencies, government leaders and policymakers, C-level executives from the private sector, academia; as well as senior figures from United Nations agencies will feature prominently at the event, which holds over three days, ending on November 16.